Secret Hearts
by squeekness
Summary: Who is Julien Tanner and why does he look so much like Gambit? Find out here in part four of my Twilight series!
1. Chapter 1

Summary: Who is Julien Tanner and why does he look so much like Gambit? Find out here in part four of my Twilight series!

Notes: Sorry for the delay in getting this part up and running. I could run through my list of excuses – I've been feeling crappy, I had a computer down for a while, I was distracted by watching season 2 of Dexter on DVD — but you really aren't interested in all that, are you? LOL. Time to read! :)

Art for this is up at my website if anyone is interested in looking at it.

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(One)

Julien Tanner, a young man bound with rope and gagged with silver duct tape, glared at Wolverine, watching the older man pace. They hadn't known each other long, but the hatred between them had been instantly mutual.

Only an hour or so ago, back in Twilight, he had been startled awake in the middle of the night by a loud explosion. He thought at first it was one of the other kids setting off a trap but it wasn't long before he figured out that it was worse than that. They were being invaded by an outside force. His first concern was for his precious Kiden, his girl, his life. Frost had his men to protect him, but Julien knew there would be no one to help her. He dressed quicky and snuck outside, doing his best not to be seen, and went to Frost's now empty cabin hoping to find the keys to her shed but couldn't. It was loud outside and only getting worse. Time was running out so he ran to her shed anyway in the hopes he could just bust her out before anyone saw them. It was vain hope – he'd been seen and taken into custody by whoever these strange invaders were.

Once he'd been captured, Aiden and Max had then covertly brought him and Kiden through Simone's door from Twilight to the Dragon 2 as Logan had ordered. For Julien it had been a jarring transition from Twilight to here, from the middle of night to early mroning. Fury had not detected them as they passed and now Julien was here awaiting his fate. While it had been true that Logan was keeping his promise not to turn Julien over to SHIELD, there had been little kind treatment. Not that that had come as any surprise, Jason Frost had been a fine teacher and Julien had been his best student.

"Never trust another mutant," Frost had frequently advised him in their many talks. "Mutants are all sinners, even yourself. They are all evil and corrupt. But you, you my son, you can redeem yourself by never giving in to them. Deny yourself, deny your powers, for they are from the Devil. Keep yourself apart for the greater good and all the blessings of the Lord will be upon you."

What Julien had experienced just in the short time he'd been in the care of the X-men had done little to change that view. He'd been attacked by some black winged freak at the sheds, harassed by Logan, and had watched as Kyle had consumed another human being. It was shocking, horrifying, and almost more than he could take. He was being overloaded and wanted nothing more than to be back at his cabin, knees down and head bent in prayer. He had been safe there, back in that other life.

He'd been returned now to the real world, a world that he'd been away from for so long now it was like reliving a dream, a return to a nightmare he had hoped never to see again. Six months ago, in this world, he had been only weeks shy of his fourteenth birthday. Scared and afraid. Weak. He was so much older than that now, and not just in years. He wasn't the child who had left here, not even close. He'd hardly been back long enough to be nauseated by the sheer stink of Dockside before he'd been taken into some weird spaceship and dumped into a seat.

Kyle had followed Julien and Aiden up the ramp, stumbling sleepily on his hands and feet like a dog. Kyle was still bloodied and rumpled from his own busy day, his torn clothes hung on him in rags and tatters. Julien shrank back from him, not wanting to be his next meal, but Kyle ignored him. The feral young man flopped down onto the floor next to Julien's feet with a grunt and crawled under the seats. Kyle fell asleep almost instantly, his belly had been so full and he'd been hardly awake even as he'd come up the ramp. He was all done.

Julien tried to shift away, moving further down the row of seats. He didn't like the idea of Kyle being so close. Would the feral man try to bite his ankles from under the seats? The snoring that soon followed should have been answer enough, but Julien was still afraid.

Grace had come up behind Kyle and she stood now to one side, unsure of what was expected of her. There had been few instructions after she went through Simone's magic door so she just stayed with the same group as they made their way to the ship. She wasn't really afraid by her new surroundings in spite of their strangeness - how many alien ships does one see in their lifetime? -- only merely curious. She had seen much in her short life and had learned to adapt quickly. She was flexible when it came to her circumstances, something that allowed her to keep her head even when stressed. It was cool now in the air conditioned ship and she closed Logan's black leather jacket a bit more tightly around her. She liked the way it smelled – of cigars, cologne and the smell of a man. Logan was right, she had no intentions of giving it back.

She smiled as Aiden rooted around in one of the large storage cabinets and handed her some clean sweats to put on. He was returning her smiles and being gracious, letting her know she was perfectly welcome to be there even if he was too busy to talk at the moment.

Max had come up last of them all and he had busied himself by laying Kiden out carefully on the floor in front of the small lavatory. She was still limp and lifeless, her eyes half open but sightless, a blonde haired rag doll still swaddled in Logan's bloody shirt. Because the lav was so small -- it was little more than the kind one might find on a airplane, with just a toilet and sink -- there was no way he could lay her down in there. He looked at Aiden with authority and ordered, "She needs to be cleaned up and dressed."

Aiden nodded and got right to work, taking care of her. Max was not his boss, but as long as he was being asked to do what he would have done on his own anyway, Aiden wasn't going to argue.

Julien stood, wanting to be with her, but Max moved quickly, rudely shoving him back down into his seat. With Kiden in Aiden's hands, Max was free now to keep watch on the one he thought would be the most trouble. As with Logan, there was no love there for the lad, only a distrust and hate that Julien didn't feel he had earned. "Stay put!" Max ordered, his large body and piercing eyes accepting no argument.

"Aiden will szee to ze girl," the strange blonde one said to Julien reassuringly, the only one here to look at him without any animosity. Julien thought he sounded funny, like something that had been broken. True to his word, Aiden was taking charge of Kiden as he had Grace, finding some more spare clothing and beginning to wash her down. Julien watched him work, his eyes only for the girl. His lovely Kiden, it had been years since she had spoken to him but he still loved her. It should be him taking care of her, not these monsters.

Julien tried to settle down, feeling time slip away. He was afraid and all alone now, unsure of what would happen to him next. In a matter of an hour or so his whole world had been turned upside down. Frost, his only anchor, was now gone. He was on his own.

Wolverine came into the ship a short while later, his dealings with Fury were done, and there were those steel grey eyes glaring at him again with all the contempt a single look could hold. No amount of words could have reinforced so well what Frost had told him than those eyes alone.

Julien was sniffed at and the gruff man said, "Yer bleeding. Where are you injured?"

Julien steeled his resolve as best he could and did not reply. He was determined not to speak to any of them. He was their prisoner and they were not his friends, especially this one who looked at him with so much anger and hate. Julien would be damned if they would have the pleasure of listening to him spill his guts. He would give them no such pleasure.

Logan's brow crinkled with renewed impatience. "Max? The little punk's been hurt. I think it's his leg. Gimme a hand, will ya?"

Julien's eyes went wide with fright and he tried to flee towards the open hatchway, not wanting their hands on him. Frost had told him that the X-men, like most mutant factions, were bullies and tortured their victims. They would want to hurt him because of his purity and beauty of heart, Frost had said. They would try to break him in any way they could.

Julien had done no more than rise to his feet before they were on him. He snarled curses at them but was manhandled easily down to the floor. He was too much of a lightweight to offer any real resistance to these well trained men of combat, but he was squirming with all of his might as he felt someone's hands release the snaps of his coveralls.

"How bad could he be if he's fighting like this?" the one named Max complained. Julien was wearing layers of clothing – a hoodie, the cross marked smock and then the coveralls over a thin white T-shirt. It was quite a chore just getting him undressed.

"Bad enough ta bleed. Mind yer hands," the gruff one ordered, not the least bit amused.

There was a rush of cool air as Julien's pants were suddenly gone and he screamed in absolute terror, he couldn't help it. He had wanted to be brave, he had wanted to show how strong he was but then he let his fear take him. He couldn't have stopped it. He was a mutant, frail and weak, unclean. They would rape him, make him even more foul than he already was.

"What the hell....?" Logan said next, freezing.

Julien paused momentarily in his thrashing, looking at the feral man's eyes as a complicated mix of emotions crossed his face. There was confusion and anger, but most of all misunderstanding. Those steel grey eyes met his own once more. "Did Frost do this to you?"

Julien blinked in confusion at first, but then he realized Logan was talking about The Purifier. The Purifier was a strap that Julien wore on his scrawny upper left thigh. It was made of leather and had barbs on the inside sharp enough to cause bruising or, if he'd been especially sinful, bleeding. The tighter the strap, the deeper the barbs went in, piercing the flesh. Julien had worn it for so long, he barely thought about it any more. Frost had given it to him back in the beginning, it was a cornerstone of his conditioning, an irreplaceable part of the Path. Julien had accepted the device willingly, he was not forced to wear it. With all of the rough handling he'd been given this day, the barbs had done their gruesome work, the strap was soaked with blood and the bruising was dark and ugly. Fearing for his life, the pain of it had meant nothing to him until now.

Julien didn't answer Logan's question, he wouldn't dignify this man's lack of faith. He was clearly too much of a sinner to comprehend true cleansing, it was there in those eyes. This man was a slave to wrath and deep emotion, a deadly sin. Julien felt the filth of his moral corruption coming off of him like a sickness.

"Didn't some guy use one of those in a movie once?" Max asked, as unintelligent as the other, Julien could see. These uncouth soldiers had no concept of cleansing, of salvation. "He was some kind of priest, right?"

"Frost has no sense of imagination," Logan complained and unbuckled the strap, tossing it aside with a grunt of disgust. He could tell by the smell of old blood in the leather and the extent of the scarring on the boy's leg that the kid had been wearing this thing for months, maybe even longer. The thought of it made him sick.

Julien continued to fight him the whole way though he was tiring. His underfed frame simply couldn't handle this much strain. When he felt Logan's hands on him again, he squirmed and rolled with renewed vigor, trying to at least get to his knees. The open door wasn't that far away.

Wolverine didn't let him. He held him down with just one hand, powerful in spite of being a small man. "Quit yer squirmin', kid. We're just tryin' to get you bandaged up, for Pete's sake!"

Julien was having none of it. There was only one reason they would have his pants down and he was sure it had nothing to do with bandages. He fought as best as his frail little body would allow which was, of course, far too little to get him where he wanted to go. He was soon breathless and wheezing, all panic and fear. Spots were dancing across his vision. He was too weak for them.

"Easzy, leetle one," came that odd broken voice and Julien felt warm hands at his face. He shuddered as he felt a blast of heat from those hands and was instantly intoxicated as some strange magic coursed now through his body. It robbed him of his anger and fear and made him numb, leaving him limp and helpless, relaxed in this man's spell. For a moment he felt such a love for him rip through his mind that it brought his mother's face to his mind. His mother had been a disease ridden whore, the one who had broken his poor tiny heart most, but some small part of him loved her still. He sobbed then, breathing her name.

"Not you mudder," the voice whispered to him again, the sound so close that Julien could feel Aiden's breath in his ear. Aiden hadn't used the glitter, he understood just what Julien had been afraid of and hadn't wanted the sexual side effects, though Julien didn't know that. His touch was gentle, reassuring as he said, "But not you enemy. Zere isz no reaszon for you to fear. No one will 'urt you 'ere, not in disz way you fear moszt."

Julien, sure that he had been drugged, was unable to resist that gentle, reassuring voice so full of tenderness and love. It made him feel safe and for another moment, his mother's face returned to him again. It brought back things he had forgotten, memories of another life.

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The earliest memory Julien had was one of warmth and love, of the golden hair of his mother brushing his face as he nursed from her breast. He didn't know why this particular memory should have stayed with him for so long, perhaps it was just that he had so few other good memories to cling to.

Kathy was blonde and vivacious, in her youth quick to laugh and to smile, traits that slowly faded over time. Jerry Tanner had a lot to do with that. Jerry was a large man, foul tempered and quick to use his fists to get his point across. He was much older than Kathy and already balding at the time of his death, his belly huge from too much beer and an unhealthy heroin addiction.

Just as Julien had always known that Kathy was his mother, he had also known that Jerry Tanner, the man who had always lived with them, had not been his real father. He had known it even before the taunting and ridicule had begun, it was in the way the man had looked at him, so full of suspicion and hate.

Kathy didn't speak much of her past to her young son, but she had told him that she had known Jerry a long time. The truth was, she had known Jerry before she and Remy had had their little fling. Jerry had known what Kathy did for a living and he hadn't minded it one bit, not when her steady earnings kept him well supplied with drugs. She was young and pretty then and she made very good money at what she did, enough that he was willing to look the other way, so long as it benefitted him of course.

That Kathy eventually ended up pregnant was no real surprise, considering her profession, but Julien's odd appearance was a bit of a shock. At least to Jerry. Kathy took one look at Julien's red on black eyes and knew who the father had been. She was quick to hide the photograph she had kept as a souvenir of the experience – the necklace had long since been sold – and let Jerry think the child was his. It was safer that way, she knew that Jerry didn't like mutants. Jerry hated a lot of people – homosexuals, blacks, old people. Mutants were just another name on his extensive bitch list. Kathy was hoping that as long as Jerry thought the boy might belong to him, Julien would be allowed to stay.

It was true that Jerry didn't like mutants and even though he had at first believed Julien was his, he still held the boy at arm's length. He wanted to keep the kid hidden, their sorry little mistake. Julien wasn't allowed to go to school and he never saw a doctor. It was a miracle that he never ended up so sick that he might have died. He could play outside their ratty little trailer as much as he liked and so long as he was quiet. He was only allowed to play by himself, not that there were many kids around in that tiny trailer park anyhow.

Julien didn't have a lot of toys but he had inherited his real father's cleverness. He watched Jerry at his tools and quickly learned what a hammer was for. A few nails and some borrowed bits of discarded wood later and he had a small train, a tiny boat. They weren't the best looking toys, but with his healthy imagination, they suited him just fine.

There was a small field of tall grass behind the trailer and he would often lie on his back, looking up at the sky, dreaming of far away places. He would tell himself stories, whiling the hours away. He was always the hero of the tale, someone so powerful that no one would ever intimidate him or push him around ever again. He loved his stories and they helped to pass the time. It wasn't like he had any incentive to stay inside the trailer, not with Jerry there ready to criticize him for just being alive.

The best times were the few times that Jerry had found actual work. The man was in construction and when he was hired, was away for long hours. Then Julien was free to come and go as he pleased, but mostly he loved lying in bed with his drowsy mother, snuggling up close. She would hold him close and tell him how much he was loved.

The years passed this way and he grew older day by day. He knew he was different because of his eyes. He understood that neither of his parents looked this way, nor did anyone on the television, but he didn't not understand this word 'mutant', not just yet. He was different in another way as well – no matter how much he ate, he was always bone thin and frail, always hungry. There wasn't much food to go around and Kathy gave him what she could, but it wasn't enough for him to fill out or gain any real size. The boney thinness Remy had seen in his stolen photos had not come from deliberate neglect, the boy simply had a high metabolism.

It was in his eighth year that Julien learned the truth about Jerry not being his real father. Because Kathy was so reluctant to give up her small trophy photo of her and Gambit, it was only a matter of time before Jerry found it. Enraged, Jerry went off on Kathy and her bastard son, beating them both without mercy.

Julien had been outside playing at the time, right outside the front door. Because he didn't go to school, his only education had come from experience and an episode or two of Sesame Street. At eight years old, he could barely read and write, but he was going to learn some new things this day.

There was a smash of glass from inside the trailer and Julien froze, looking up at the front door. It was early summer so the screen door was in place, letting him hear everything.

"You lied to me!" Jerry howled. "Letting me think that freak was my son!"

"He is your son! You're the only father he has ever known!" she said to her own defense, her voice already beginning to shake with fear.

"You bitch! You lying little whore!"

There was a loud smack and a crash and Julien was in the house before he knew it, both hands fisted. "You leave my momma alone!"

Jerry was standing there, holding Kathy up by her wrists. Her face was bloodied and she was hardly conscious. The blow he had given her had been a hard one. She was slim of build, lucky if she was half Jerry's size, and in no position now to defend herself. This wasn't the first time their fights had gotten physical and it looked as though Jerry was just getting warmed up. The kitchen table was toppled and what was left of lunch had spilled out onto the floor.

Julien, small though he was himself, flung himself at his tormentor. He had been teased and sneered at by this man long enough, and now this insult to his mother was more than he could stand. His mind, though young, was quick. He was hoping that since Jerry had his hands full with his mother it would make him an easier target.

He thought wrong.

Jerry used the nearly dead weight of his mother to slam Julien aside. The boy went flying face first into the refrigerator with painful force, the door popping open and spilling some of the contents out, adding to the mess. Julien burst into choking, mewling sobs -- his poor little nose had been broken from the impact.

Jerry tossed Kathy aside and went for Julien, ready to punish him for his impudence, for simply being alive. He grabbed the lad by the hair and threw him across the room and into the wall like a bull tossing a rodeo clown. Julien hit hard and cried out with renewed pain as he felt something smash and break inside. He slid to the floor, unable to catch his breath and his mouth was filled with the coppery taste of blood.

Julien lay there, wheezing, his dazed mind trying to remember just how he had gotten there. It had all been so quick, the brawl had lasted less than a minute. The pain was making everything a blur. He did however, manage to get a quick glimpse of what had started the whole argument in the first place. – a battered Polaroid lay on the floor just to his right. It was a picture of a much younger version of his mother with another man. One with eyes like his own. Julien barely had enough time to register that startling fact before Jerry towered over him and began to kick him. The photo was forgotten as new pain bloomed and blackness threatened. The nightmare was happening at a distance now, like it was happening to someone else. Someone far away.

"You useless waste of a human life!" Jerry shouted at him from that great distance. The man had come to his knees, all the better to shout right in his face. Up close now Julien reeled even more from the sick stench of the man's horrible breath. Beer and onions, what a treat, not that Julien was thinking all that much. Still he managed to hear Jerry say, "Your mother is a fucking whore who fucks mutant freaks like you for money! Are you proud of your momma now?"

Julien was just conscious enough to think to look for her, but she was gone. Had she fled? He hoped so. He hoped she was gone from here where Jerry could never hurt her again.

Jerry was unaware that his wife wasn't where he had left her. He leaned down over the boy, really close as he continued to shout his insults. "She can watch now as I show her what needs to be done to sick freaks like you -- dogs that need putting down!"

Julien was so far gone now he hardly cared. He couldn't breathe and there was a huge ache in his side. So no one was more surprised than he was when Jerry suddenly cried out and fell over. Kathy stood behind him, a baseball bat in her hand. She had clubbed him and clubbed him hard. Blood flowed from her nose and she was shaking, but she had come to the defense of her offspring, gaining strength from his need for her. She gave Jerry another whack for good measure and the then she was there holding him close.

"We're leaving," she said. "And he'll never hurt us again."

It was the first of her lies, the ones he knew of anyhow, but it had been the worst.

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"Finish cleanin' up the girl," Wolverine said to Aiden, startling Julien awake from his lazy dream of unwanted memories.

Julien, still on the floor of the Dragon 2 and pleasantly dazed from the Siskan's sweet magic, watched as Aiden left him and went back to Kiden. For a moment there, Julien hadn't wanted him to go, this kind person who had been so gentle. It had been so long since he'd been touched without hurt, but then he remembered where he was. He was still a prisoner on this strange ship, still awaiting his fate.

Logan wasn't bossing Aiden around for the fun of it, he hadn't liked Aiden's use of the empathy but Julien hadn't known that. It had been a help regardless – Julien offered little resistance now as his leg was roughly bandaged. Aiden was as good as his word, Julien was redressed and lifted, but left unmolested as he was set back in his seat. He had put up enough of a fight that they had dressed him sloppily, his smock lay discarded off to one side, his hoodie was twisted and riding up his back. He sat forward, adjusting his clothing and trying to sober up though he had to admit this gentle buzz was quite sweet. He was blissful, serene even, as Logan was right up against him, binding him with rope so he wouldn't be able to run again.

"You got anything to say fer yerself?" Logan asked gruffly, looking the boy in the eyes. "Why would a kid like you want to work fer Frost anyhow?"

Julien just stared back into that fearsome gaze, into the empty abyss of all that hate. It was so like Jerry's, that look. All it held was contempt for him and a merciless anger that honestly wasn't interested in any excuses, in anything he might actually have to say. Julien had no answer for it and so Logan stuck a big fat piece of duct tape on his mouth, just like that.

Julien slumped a little in his seat, defeated now. He was bruised and sore all over, exhausted. Through the long shag of his bangs, he could see that Aiden was working on Kiden, but still glancing at him, checking to make sure he was okay. They were so different, Logan and Aiden. Julien could sense there was something different about Aiden, something not quite human, but then they were all mutants here now, weren't they? Julien hadn't known a man like Aiden, all he really knew from men were bastards like Logan, like Jerry had been.

The only real tenderness and concern Julien had known in his life had come from women. Kathy had taken him from Jerry that night as promised and brought him to a safe place. It hadn't been a hospital though that was where he really needed to go. She had brought him instead to Yolanda's, another prostitute who had a lesbian lover that was a nurse in the local free clinic nearby.

Julien was not afraid here, Yolanda had babysat for him before. He felt safe here and offered no fight as he was looked over and carefully prodded even though it hurt. He was still in shock and only wanted to sleep.

There was discussion from the fog behind him. Yolanda's girlfriend was saying, "I think he has broken ribs. I can tape them up but he might be bleeding internally. His nose is broken and he had a concussion. He should see a real doctor."

"I can't take him to a hospital, you know that," Kathy was pleading. She was crying, her own face black now. One eye was swollen shut and her lips were cracked and bloody. Her hands were shaking with emotion. "His eyes!"

"That's the least of your problems, honey," Yolanda said ominously. "They might take him from you. They'll see he was abused and think it was from you."

"He has to stay here."

The decision made, Julien was tended where he was and left to his fate. His ribs were taped up and he was given some morphine for the pain. He slept a lot over the next few days, getting some much needed rest. He lived through his injuries, enjoying the quiet at least. He had some vague memory of some pictures being taken of his wounds, though it was lost in the fog of medication and sleep. There was talk of courts and money all that. But it didn't last.

In his mostly drug induced sleep, he had some vague dreams of a man with red and black eyes coming to save him. This fine warrior was here to take out his revenge on Jerry and free him, but then Julien would wake and he knew that these dreams were just fantasy and not real. He knew this because they were still at Yolanda's and he could hear his mother crying. Something was wrong again.

"You have to get rid of it," Yolanda was saying. "You can't go back to that man."

"I won't kill my baby," Kathy sobbed. "I didn't kill Julien and I won't kill this one either. Besides this time will be different. I haven't been working the guys. Jerry will know it's his."

"Fine, keep the baby. But don't go back."

"Who will take care of us?" Kathy sobbed. "I can't work like this and I can't stay here forever...."

It was a couple of days later when the knock came on the door. It was Jerry, all apologies and smiles. He had recovered from the beating Kathy had given him and seemed happy enough. He even had flowers in his hand, trying to show that he had missed her as much as she had missed him.

Julien waited for his mother to toss Jerry out, to keep her promise, but something had changed. She told Jerry that she was pregnant. Julien wasn't exactly sure what that meant, but it changed Jerry's face. Kathy had been trying her hand at waitressing and this time there would be no mistake. This time, the child would be Jerry's. He was ecstatic, all hugs and smiles and laughter.

Yolanda wasn't happy. She knew the real score – Jerry needed Kathy's money tosurvive, just as much as Kathy thought she needed him. They deserved each other and so she had tossed up her hands, leaving poor Julien to his fate.

They came back home and Julien braced for the worst. Kathy had broken her promise and they were returning to hell. How could it be any better than before? But he soon saw that things had changed, at least for now. Kathy had made Jerry promise to leave Julien alone and he did just that – he flat out ignored the boy entirely, like he never existed. That didn't mean it was all roses for the lad, Julien's room was given up for the new baby. He was given the dog bed and made to sleep in the kitchen. Julien waited for Kathy to protest, but she didn't, Jerry wasn't beating the boy after all. But Julien never forgot.

As Julien finished healing from the assault, strange things began to happen to him. As much as his mother's body was changing, so was his own. He had recovered from the physical damage, but the trauma of the event must have done something to him, he reasoned, because he was never the same again. He grew three inches taller in that nine months, shooting up and getting well on his way to inheriting his real father's height. His body demanded much for that growth and he was still always hungry. Trouble was, there was very little extra food in the house, especially now with the baby soon on its way. Kathy fed him what she could but it wasn't nearly enough. Where Julien had been a bit undernourished before he was starved now, ragged, and refusing to fill out.

It worried Kathy but Jerry simply didn't care. He protested every extra feeding he caught her giving the lad and put a stop to it as much as he could. Perhaps he was hoping the boy would simply become too frail and die. That didn't happen. Julien was practically living on hate alone now.

Julien had grown distant from his mother now that she hadn't kept her promise. When they were alone, they would still cuddle from time to time, but when Jerry was home, it was like Julien never existed. Then, when his sister was finally born, Kathy had her hands full and had no time for him at all. It didn't help that she got pregnant again almost right away, and then there was another new baby in the house.

With all these kids to feed and care for, Kathy couldn't make enough money as a waitress and so she went back to prostitution to supplement their income. It hadn't been an easy choice and she was deeply depressed and sad most of the time. Life, it seemed, had finally caught up with her. She was weighed down by the bad decision to return to her husband, but it was too late now. In an attempt to cheer her, or at the very least cement her to his side, Jerry offered her an escape with heroin and she finally accepted.

Worn out and having very little fight left in her, Kathy offered little resistance even as their life only seemed to get worse. Jerry had a harder time finding work and with both of them dependant on heroin now, money was even tighter than before. It was no longer out of the question for Jerry to offer the drug dealers a spin with his wife as payment for what they needed. Kathy, so very tired now, didn't even fight it.

Julien, twelve now, just happened to be playing in the closet in his parents' bedroom when this happened. They had no idea he was there, the drug dealer and his mother. Julien was such a quiet child. It was his first introduction to sex and he had an eyeful. What should have been a joyous communication between two people in love, was now presented to him as an exchange of heartless exhaustion. Kathy lay as one dead while the man on top of her took what he wanted and left without a thought or care. Her eyes were glazed and distant, the same look she sometimes had when Jerry would belittle her for something. She had tuned Jerry out then just like she was tuning this man out right now. She simply did not care.

Julien had heard these same sounds before between his mother and Jerry as they made love, but now that he'd been given a vision to go along with it, couldn't understand why they or anyone bothered. It certainly didn't look like any fun for his mother. It was soon finished and young Julien put it out of his mind.

There was one bright light in Julien's life – his sisters. First one and then the other, born not long after. Jerry was content to ignore the boy at first, but then, when he saw the lad's interest in his siblings, was more than happy to use the kid as a babysitter and clean up crew as much as possible. Why should Jerry change a shit filled diaper when there was someone else so very handy? It was close to slavery, but Julien didn't mind. At least, he didn't blame his sisters for it. He loved them and they loved him in return. He was happy to play with them and keep them out of trouble. What was really helping him along, of course, was the fact that his sisters not only didn't ignore that he existed, but they loved him well in return for all the care he gave them. They toddled after him wherever he went, demanding that he play with them and he was happy enough to comply.

Julien still wasn't allowed to attend school and the neighbors never asked any questions. Julien had always lived that way, school was something that happened to other kids on the few television shows he was allowed to watch. His lack of education didn't mean he wasn't smart in his own ways, he learned quickly how to care for his sisters and to make things. Jerry never saw this, if Julien were to get underfoot, he would be quick to tease, calling him moron and stupid. Anything to punish since he no longer struck the boy for fear Kathy would leave him again.

The time passed in this way, but he never forgot that last big fight – or the photograph he had seen. He searched his mother's room whenever he got the chance, trying to find the picture in the hopes of seeing it again. It took a while but he'd finally discovered it – Kathy had gotten much better at hiding her things from Jerry. He recalled the first time he had finally gotten his first really good look at the photo. It had stunned him, here was a man who looked just like him, right down to the eyes. He had to have it, this picture, and so stole it for himself. If Kathy was upset about it, she never said.

A couple of times, in quiet moments when Jerry was not home, Julien dared to ask her about him, this mysterious man. She told him they had met just the one time, but her eyes had glowed just a little in a way that he had never seen before – his mother was happy remembering something that didn't have to do with Jerry.

He asked her then, being very brave, "Momma? Why does Jerry live here if he makes you so unhappy?"

"He loves me in his way," she answered dispassionately, her eyes growing sad. "The girls belong to him." He knew she meant his sisters, they looked like Jerry at least. They were never struck or yelled at. Jerry loved them and never raised his fists or his hands to them. Watching the unbalanced treatment of all the kids in the house Julien just knew he would not stay there forever. He always knew he would end up running away sooner or later, he just had nowhere else to go at the moment.

Thinking of this only made him hate the red eyed man all the more. Why hadn't he stayed? Why hadn't he come for him? That was what fathers did, right? They loved their kids the way Jerry loved his sisters.

Kathy had told him some things about this red eyed man – that his name was Gambit and he was gifted and a hero. He was on a team of people who helped to save the world. As much as Remy had speculated that Kathy knew nothing of him, he was quite mistaken. It was just that she simply knew better than to think that a man who once paid for sex would have any interest in her or their son ever again. She never once tried to contact him or tell him about Julien. Her fear was that if actually did care, he'd take her son away and she'd never see either of them again. She did not say this to Julien, she simply told him that the man was busy. His job was important, more important than they were in their small dirty trailer so far away. As time passed, Julien thought of him another way – Gambit was the pathetic loser who never cared enough about his mother to stay.


	2. Chapter 2

(Two)

"Where's Julie One Hand!"

Henry looked up from his patient and turned to look behind him. A group made up of some of the young refugees they had rescued from Twilight had come over to where he was working and they looked far from friendly. He gave them the only answer he had, "I have no idea who you are talking about."

For a mission that had required the Gold Team, this day had been pretty boring for Dr. Henry McCoy. The big blue doctor had flown in Fallen's impressive ship to Dockside with as much medical equipment as he could assemble on such short notice. He had set up his ad hoc medical station just outside of the Lucky Dragon and had waited, feeling all but useless as Fury and the Gold Team disappeared through Simone's magic door. They had been gone for an hour or so and it wasn't until their return that Henry's real work began, or at least, what little there had been.

The first to come through that doorway was Gus and Henry's day had gotten a whole lot livelier. The man had no more than stepped through the door before he had begin to melt away into a puddle of slime. Henry could safely say that was a sight he never wished to see or hear again. It had been horrific. It had happened way too fast for him to have helped the poor man, much to his regret. The man had died in less than a minute. At least he was the only one who suffered from that complication after passing through the door.

The Gold Team had fared much better on their return. They had been experienced enough to have gone through the day's work without so much as a scratch. Fury's men -- the ones that had walked back on their own -- had been only minimally injured and declined Henry's offer of assistance. Fury had only lost two of his men, all the major losses had all been on Frost's end.

So it was the rescued children who ultimately ended up being Henry's patients. They had walked through that door, ragged and thin, their poor faces so weary it nearly broke Henry's heart to see it. He greeted them with food and blankets, doing his very best to make them feel welcome. Maylee and Fallen were by his side, making their own efforts to help him.

Henry could not help but smile as he watched Maylee work alongside him with efficient ease. She was Fallen's foster daughter and hadn't been with them long, but she was his finest student. She was making him proud now, organizing everyone and getting the line of kids moving. She was engaged to Max, the winged young man that was helping out with Logan so much these days. Henry was quite sure they would marry soon -- Maylee had come to him just a few days ago asking for a pregnancy test. It had come back positive and they were both ecstatic.

As the rescued kids were herded their way Maylee was sorting them out by their injuries and sending the worst cases to him. Some of the kids needed a stitch or two and he was happy to oblige. He knew this was just the beginning of their care, they would also need counseling to help them recover from what they had been forced to endure in the camp at Twilight. He was appalled at the condition of the kids – most of them were starved at the very least, beaten and sexually abused at the worst. Though happy to have been freed, many were not moving too quickly. They were fast about one thing – they couldn't get Frost's silver crossed smocks off fast enough. There was a growing pile of them in one of Henry's nearby trash cans.

Most of the young ones had come to Henry easily enough for his offerings of nourishment and warmth, even though they were clearly intimidated by his size and his face. The X-men were not unknown to most of the world but Henry's face was not one of those that made the TV too often. He had learned to use a calm voice and unthreatening gestures when he spoke to new people. It helped to make them see he wasn't a threat of any kind and it did the same for him now. The kids quickly realized he was their friend and there to help and he was soon looking them over and getting them situated. After they had been treated, the ones that wanted to go to Arizona were brought aboard the Lucky Dragon, Fallen's much larger ship, for transport.

There was a fair number of kids, about thirty or so. Most were simple betas – cosmetic mutations mostly. They had colored skin or fur or scales, a couple had a tail or an extra limb. One or two had the blinking restraining collars around their necks, hinting at a bit more power. Henry was waiting to remove the collars – one, he wasn't sure if they might be booby trapped and two, he wanted to fully understand why Frost wanted them restrained before setting them free.

Some of the older kidnap victims were in fact recruits that Fury had sent out to be captured as spies for SHIELD. Most of them were pissed - they had understood that they might be mistreated, but hadn't appreciated getting chemically sterilized in the process. Not all of them had survived it. None of Fury's survivors wanted to go back to him for obvious reasons and Henry was more than happy to receive them and give them a new home.

Many of the survivors were scared and hungry, but there were some, like this group that had approached Henry now, that were more than ready for a little payback. "Where is Julie One Hand!" they demanded again.

"I don't know who you mean," Henry repeated though that wasn't entirely accurate. He had been briefed on the boy and seen the vague composite sketch, but no one had come up to him saying, 'Here he is.'

"We saw Frost was captured," one of the kids explained. "So he must have been, too."

Henry nodded, knowing about Frost already. "All I can tell you is he is not here, or hasn't been identified to me anyhow."

"Well, if he shows up, we have first dibs on him, understand?"

Henry blinked at him, standing up a bit straighter in his concern. He hadn't liked the boy's tone. "First dibs for what?"

"For his execution, man!" one of the larger boys shouted. "He stood by and did nothing while our girls got raped! He stood by and did nothing while Frost killed us one by one! He is just as much to blame for what happened to us!"

Asher came up behind them, his hooves loud on the pavement. Asher had flown in with Remy but he had planned on going back with the kids. He was here to offer them comfort and perhaps even a little guidance. He spoke gently now, "Vengeance is the Lord's work, kitten. It ain't up to us."

The boy turned, his face twisted in anger. He at first took in Asher's kindly face and exotic skin with wonder, but when his eyes settled on the large silver cross around the centaur's neck, the rage returned in force. "Who the fuck are you?"

Asher remained calm in the face of the insult. He held out his hand and greeted, "M' name's Asher. I comes along ta helps ya settle in. What's yer name, kitten?"

"Don't call me 'kitten'," the boy sneered, his anger growing by the minute. He refused Asher's hand with a look of distaste. This boy was no longer a child, he was fully grown and huge. He must not have been under Frost's care long, he was still well muscled and not so frail as the others who had been rescued. He was a beta, green skinned and not from envy. He had tall pointed ears and a long furry tail that lashed behind him with agitation. He was looking at Asher with real disdain. "Who calls anyone 'kitten'? What are you? Some kind of faggot?"

Asher blinked at him in surprise, he hadn't expected the anger or the verbal attack. "I didn't mean no offense....."

"Yeah, well, my name is Malcolm, not kitten. You can take your cross and go, freak. We've had enough of your precious 'Lord' to make us puke!"

"There are many who would use the Lord's name to do evil," Asher explained in his usual even tones. He was still trying to be reasonable. "It don't make the Lord evil himself."

"There is no God!" Malcolm howled at him, spitting in his rage. "My sister is dead. You know why? Because she wouldn't submit to the cleansing ritual of being raped by Frost's men all day! Where was your God for her?"

Asher bowed his head, feeling this boy's sorrow. "I'm sorry fer yer loss, but we cain't all know God's plan fer us."

"Oh? Are you saying there was a plan in all this?" the boy questioned, getting even more angry. He was right in Asher's face as he snarled, "Fuck you! There was no plan! There was only Frost and his little bitch taking what they wanted! They didn't care about us!"

Asher took a step back and tried another tack. He countered with, "I hears Julie One Hand is a kid just like yous. How are ya so shure he ain't no victim himself?"

"Is this some kind of joke?" one of the other kids exclaimed, adding to the tension. "That kid is a bloodsucking freak! The biggest kiss ass I ever seen. All he cared about was himself!"

"There ain't no need to be throwin' stones here. People do things fer different reasons," Asher continued to persuade. "I'm shure many of yous did things in yer life you wasn't proud of. Is there anaone here who ain't never done nuthin' wrong?"

There was some silence in the group but Asher could see he wasn't exactly winning them over. Still he kept trying, "Until you speaks to the kid and knows fer shure why he done what he done, it would be best fer yous to just fergives him. The sooner you kin release yer hate, the easier it'll be fer yous to moves on."

"Move on?" Malcolm howled once more. "I won't forgive! I won't forget! And I won't move on until Julie One Hand is dead!"

"You don't means that. Yer just angry — " Asher tried but he was cut off.

"You – you men of God are all a bunch of stupid pansy ass faggoty liars! Frost was a Bible thumping freak like you! You're so full of shit you can't even smell your own stink!"

"Hey, now! That's enough of that!" Henry interjected, commanding everyone's attention. He'd tried to be patient, but this was escalating. "I have something important to say and I hope you all will listen very carefully to me."

The crowd quieted and the doctor continued, "I want it to be known right now that we, the X-men, are offering you all a home and that it is unconditional. If you know who we are than you know what we stand for. Our only goal is peaceful relations between humans and mutants. That is all. While we do have some clergy to assist us in this endeavor, we are not a religious organization of any particular affiliation. We have something for everyone, including a rabbi and an Imam as well. You will not be made to attend any religious services of any sort if that is your wish. The only thing we do ask of you is to have patience and tolerance towards one another and to those who live with us that have some kind of faith. Asher here means you no harm, he only wishes to help you."

"What will you do about Frost!" someone else wanted to know.

Henry relaxed, being on more familiar ground here. "That will be up to SHIELD and the courts but you can be sure that we will be keeping an eye on the situation. We will keep those of you who come with us updated as much as possible. You are all encouraged to give statements if SHIELD asks for them and we will assist you in that in any way we can."

Malcolm wasn't quite mollified by Henry's blanket statement. He jerked a thumb at Asher. "This guy says we shouldn't want our payback. You say we'll get it. Which will it be?"

Asher bowed his head in frustration. "Frost will git what he deserves in court. God will sees to him in His way by way of them judges. It's best not to be takin' that blood yerself, lest you stain yer souls with it."

"Is this guy serious?" Malcolm argued, more than happy to bring this back around to Asher. It was clear that all he really wanted was someone to take his frustrations out on and the Siskan was as good a one as any. "We'll go with you all right. Not like we have anywhere else to go to now. But only as long as that one --" he pointed at Asher, " – stays away from us. **Permanently!**"

Henry sighed and looked at Asher. "I'm sorry, my well intentioned friend. But perhaps it would be best if you gave these kids some distance."

Asher nodded, but it was hard to hide the crestfallen look on his face. It was happening to him again, that others outright mocked and hated him for his faith. Asher wasn't pushy or preachy about his beliefs, he never forced his views on anyone, but it was clear that he remained somewhat naive, he just didn't understand when others didn't feel the same as he did. It made him feel like a failure and it was clear in his eyes that now threatened tears.

Henry knew it wasn't true, no matter what the self doubting Siskan might think. Asher's days were full and the vast majority of it was spent on charity or social work. He spent time with the orphans, he taught Bible studies, he helped out with any wounded or sick people in the infirmary. He ran errands for anyone who asked. Anything Henry needed, Asher was right there to help out. Asher was no bigot, he was a non-denominational worker and assisted anyone without question regardless of their faith or race or mutation.

It was no great secret that Asher greatly desired some kind of ordination but one thing held him back – it was this, the endless bickering over which faith was the most right. It made him sad that in the religious section of the Complex there was more than one Christian church, and that while there was relative peace, they did not agree. He couldn't find any one among them that fit his exact way of thinking and as time passed, it seemed that was less and less likely to ever happen. Not that he would be out of a job if that ordination never happened, the Complex needed helpful people and he was always there for them.

It was this passion for peace that made Asher place his desire to be a good example above all else. He obeyed Henry's request with no fuss and turned away, his eyes so sad and his shoulders slumped some in defeat. "I'll flies back with Remy then. I didn't ever means to upset no one."

"Please don't go," came a voice, soft yet firm. "You can fly with me."

Asher looked up, his eyes meeting those of a young girl no more than fourteen. She was battered and thin, but there was some strength yet in her. She was a beta, no blinking collar for her. Her skin was a dark purple and welted, raised designs swirled over her arms and face and Asher just knew they had been there from birth. A pair of gossamer fairy wings hung behind her, a bit torn here and there but still proud. God had marked her as special and not just in the goodness of her heart.

"Izzie, don't be stupid," Malcolm challenged. "Look at his cross. He's a Jesus freak like Frost."

"Not every Christian believes as Frost did," she tossed back. She looked at Asher. "My momma didn't and neither do you. Isn't that right?"

"That's right," Asher answered, drawing some strength from her show of faith. Her shine was so bright and beautiful, so unafraid of him. He ignored Malcolm and spoke directly to her, "Jesus wouldn't never want anaones to hurts you like Frost done. Not in His name. Never in His name. Many folks misuse the Lord for their own purposes. Truth is, if they really had the love of the Lord in their hearts, they wouldn't never have tooks ya and hurtcha like they done."

Asher gently palmed her cheek with his hand and continued, "Look atcha. So vera pretty and fine. God made yous guys just as ya are. How kin ya be damned fer bein' born different? It ain't like you had no say in the matter. God has a plan fer alla yous and he gave ya'll gifts to help ya accomplish it. We used our gifts ta helps you, maybe you kin use yer gifts ta helps the next guy in a fix."

"If you say so, freak," Malcolm sneered, not believing, but finding it hard to argue with the Siskan when he was being so complimentary. "Just keep away from me!"

"Come with me," Izzie said, hooking her arm in Asher's before he could turn away again. She headed them towards the Lucky Dragon but she stopped when a voice even smaller than hers caught her attention.

"Homey homes we goes! Bout righty time it 'tis!"

"Who was that?"Izzie asked in surprise, looking about. There was no one else there.

Asher just smiled and reached into the leather bag that hung at his side. With great care he extracted from it the strangest creature she had ever seen. It looked like a ferret, but it was tinted the oddest purple as though it had been dyed. Asher stroked the creature with real love, holding it out for her to see. "That'd be m' Smee."

Izzie reached out and tentatively patted Smee's head, hoping that if Asher was holding him out so invitingly that it meant he would not bite. "Well, hello there."

Smee grinned in his ferrety way, sniffing at her. "Purpley purple. Bestest of the colors it 'tis!" he squeaked, pointing out what they had in common.

She laughed at him, "So it is. So it is. Time to go home."

..–..-..–..–..–..–..–..–..–..–..--

Logan looked out the open hatch of the Dragon 2 with concern, it was getting a little rowdy outside and Remy hadn't come back from Twilight yet. He could hear the kids out there clamoring for Julien's blood. Although he could sympathize, he wasn't about to allow it. Remy would be here soon, but what he wanted most of all was to make sure that no one else spoiled his little surprise. He snapped his fingers at Aiden and said, "Grace can finish up with Kiden. I want you outside makin' sure no one comes up that ramp that doesn't belong here, understand?"

Aiden blinked at him, squinted. It was a familiar response -- Logan knew Aiden was reading his shine, looking for clues, for things Logan wasn't saying. Logan was not Aiden's boss and there was some question as to whether or not he would obey. Apparently Aiden found his shine agreeable enough to comply. He rose and made for the door.

Wolverine stopped him just briefly, taking his elbow. He nodded at Julien. "No word of this to yer boss. You get me?"

"You wish to keep your leetle secret, neh?" Aiden replied with just the slightest hint of disdain. He did not approve.

"Yeah. I do. I got my reasons."

Aiden squinted again, his eyes searching. "You t'ink zat Remy lie to you."

"I wanna know. I have a right to know."

Aiden sighed softly, relaxing just a little. He knew Remy better than anyone besides Kimble, or at least he thought he did. He didn't think he had anything to worry about and so nodded his consent. "Aiden will do asz you szay."

"Right. Bottom of the ramp."

"Ze ramp, aye," Aiden confirmed and left, going down the short ramp and back outside. Honestly, it was a relief to leave the ship even briefly, Logan and Max's obvious distrust of Julien was scraping his empathic mind a bit raw. Yes, Aiden was biased in favor of the boy for obvious reasons, Aiden would always take Remy's side first on any issue. He just wished Logan wasn't so quick to judge the lad when so little about him was known.

Aiden settled in his spot and took advantage of opportunity to grab a smoke. He smoked quite heavily by human standards, but he found that it soothed his jangled nerves. He knew of better methods of stress relief of course, but Kimble was absent at the moment. For all the people milling about outside, Aiden hadn't seen his lover or Remy anywhere.

Aiden watched as Henry and Asher managed the rowdier kids and got them to settle down. Aiden couldn't help but wonder what Julien had done that was so terrible. Some of those kids wanted blood. He watched as some of the children who were now freed slunk off into the morning light, but the majority followed Asher and Izzie inside the Lucky Dragon. There would be many new faces at the Complex back home.

Moments later, Aiden saw Remy and Kimble finally cross through Simone's magic door and was forced to swallow down his relief. Aiden didn't like to show his emotions publically, he took it as a sign of weakness. What did concern him, though, was that although it had been Kimble's body that had come through that door, the shine was all Zander's. It had been Zander's shine Aiden had seen when they had all met up at the flower field, and here was Zander's shine still. Remy had not gotten the Punisher to stand down.

Not yet anyhow.

Aiden watched with some curiosity as Remy and Zander had their little debate right out of the gate and couldn't help but smile at the kiss that concluded it. Aiden saw Zander's shine change to Kimble's and understood that his heartmate had been returned. He knew Kimble would be embarrassed over that kiss, Zander was a cheeky bastard, but he also knew that the pilot loved Remy enough to at least enjoy it a little. Aiden was not about to begrudge Kimble that simple pleasure.

Aiden wasn't even jealous over the public display of affection, something Kimble had denied him many times over. Zander had done this, not Kimble, and it wasn't done to hurt Aiden, it had been directed at Remy and was, as far as Aiden was concerned, a harmless prank. Why should he care? No matter how many kisses the pair might sneak here or there, it would be to his bed Kimble would be returning to, not Remy's. As before, Aiden knew Remy well -- the solemn vow the thief had taken in regards to his Mistress would hold.

Aiden flicked away his spent cigarette into a nearby puddle, done with it. He watched as Kimble broke away from Remy, all scandalized from the kiss. Kimble rushed towards the Dragon 2 and Aiden was ready to receive him. His perceptive mind missed little, categorizing what he was going to have to deal with when they got home. Kimble being uninjured was a plus – but the pilot's uniform jacket was gone. Someone else might not have found that significant, but Aiden did. While Aiden better appreciated the view of Kimble's perfect body without it, he knew that jacket had meant so much to Kimble, it had been a symbol of his acceptance into the official clan. What did it mean now that it was gone?

Aiden expected Kimble to come to him but Kimble hurried past him, his eyes turned away in guilt and shame. Kimble could read the shines as well as Aiden, he had to know that Aiden was not the least bit angry or jealous over the kiss. Still, Kimble couldn't get into the ship fast enough and out of sight.

Aiden let him go, swallowing pain as Kimble's agitated empathic waves settled over him when the pilot rushed by. Just as he figured, it was more than the kiss. Zander had been unleashed, Zander had done or said something bad while he was out and Kimble felt guilty over it. Kimble considered that the ultimate failure. He had not kept his promise to do his best. This day was getting better and better, Aiden thought sarcastically to himself, squinting as he felt the beginnings of a headache form right over his eyes.

Aiden knew that Remy doubted his ability to keep Kimble under control, but he was far more organized than Remy gave him credit for. Aiden had planned ahead for possible disaster and had a small supply of fudge waiting at home. He had bought it as a surprise for Kimble in a congratulatory way for getting his jacket, but now it seemed it would serve a more medicinal purpose. Like most Siskans, Kimble responded well to chocolate. It was a mild mood elevator and a calming agent, something his overly emotional lover needed right now.

Aiden considered having another cigarette but paused to watch as Remy argued with Cyclops. What was this? Aiden began to smile as he saw Remy's own shine begin to change. Whatever Zander had done, it was having a positive effect. Look at all that green. How delightful. Remy was going to need it, Aiden thought to himself, once he saw what Logan had in store for him.

Aiden was obedient and gave away no secrets as Remy came towards him. Someone had given Remy Kimble's jacket and Aiden took it from him happily. He would need it for later, for when he would have to deal with the meltdown of Kimble's that was surely coming. Remy told him to go back inside and he did, eager to return to Kimble.

When Aiden arrived back inside the ship, Kimble had stepped away from the hatchway door. That brief look of Zander's that had gone Remy's way was now gone, replaced by stunned wonder as the pilot gaped openly at Julien where he sat. "Who..? Is that....?" Kimble stumbled over his own tongue, trying to make the question work. He hadn't known much about Julie One Hand, but there was no mistaking the resemblance between this boy and his former Master.

Aiden pulled Kimble back out of the way as Wolverine passed them by and down the ramp. "We muszt be sztrong," Aiden advised in a whisper, making Kimble look at him. "When Remy comesz, zere will be pain. 'E will need usz."

"I ain't goin' nowheres," Kimble promised, almost happy for the distraction. He had shifted gears from his own pain to the concerns of his former Master and for the moment Aiden welcomed it. The last thing he needed was to have to fix Kimble and Remy both. He had no idea how Remy was going to take the sight of Julien but they were about to find out. Remy had just come up the ramp.

..–..–..–..–..–..–..–..–..–..–..--

Moments earlier, Julien sat in his seat, listening to the kids outside shouting for his blood and shuddered. His fear was understandable, but really, it wasn't the first time anyone had wanted him dead. The noise gradually quieted, but his fear still remained. This was far from over.

Julien had been thirteen years old on the day his life changed forever.

It had been dark and gloomy out, the skies threatening rain. All the household was sick with some kind of head cold, everyone was stuffy and coughing. It was the Flush looming large over them, their doom already sealed, although none of them knew that, not just yet. The little girls were feverish and so Julien lay with them in their parents' bed, watching TV and taking care of them.

Julien was also sick, but nowhere near as bad as his sisters, something surprising since they were generally better fed and healthier than he was. His being a mutant was sparing him but no one realized it. Since he felt better than his sisters, he was happier to do what he could for them, bringing them drinks and tissues and pillows.

Jerry was in the livingroom watching the better television and fighting his own cold and fever. It had made him even more grumpy and irritable than ususal so Julien and the girls were doing their best to stay out of his way.

Kathy had no choice but to go out and try and find work. They needed to eat. The girls needed medicine, so out she went into the cold and rain, looking for desperate men to please. It was getting late and Julien was drowsy and warm with the bodies of his sisters lying next to him when he heard his mother come in. He startled even more awake when he heard the first shouting begin.

"What do you mean that's all the money you earned today?" his father was howling at his mother.

Julien liked the days when Jerry had found work, it meant he wasn't around. Jerry liked to drink and fight, always finding things to pick on Kathy for. She was worn out now, and looking much older than she was these days. She had a bit of a belly now from three kids and lacking good medical coverage, had lost some of her teeth. It was harder and harder for her to get work. Having a touch of the flu hadn't helped much either.

"It was rainin' most of the day," Kathy tried to offer as an excuse, her voice stuffy and raw from being sick. She was a horrible liar and she knew it, though she tried anyway. "Nobody wanted a date."

Jerry grabbed her arm and yanked, bringing her up close. "The rain never stopped you before, honey. I seem to recall it was raining the day we met."

Kathy trembled in fear. She was still only about half of Jerry's size. In spite of the ambiguity of the conversation, Julien knew what this was about. It was no secret that his mom didn't have a regular job, not like most of the other kids who lived in this run down trailer park. His mother was a prostitute, something that had never bothered Jerry one bit. Not if it put food on the table and kept his heroin supply coming steadily enough. Unhappy now, Jerry gave her a nice big backhand across the face.

"Leave my Momma alone!" Julien hissed, daring once more to come in between them.

Jerry reacted swiftly, swinging one burly fist in his direction.

Julien was a quick boy. He had grown some since their last fight and not just in size. Not only was there a field of grass behind the trailer, there were also some tall trees just lovely for climbing. Some rocks alongside had made for a makeshift obstacle course. With nothing to do all day but run around, Julien had discovered some things about his body. His agility was quite good and he was very flexible, he could hustle up and down those trees with ease. He could bend and flex, squirreling up into places that would challenge most other youths his age.

The only thing that held him back was his malnourished body. He had no endurance. But that was the last thing on his mind at the moment. Right now he was ducking Jerry's fist easily, twisting to the side with a flexibility even most kids would envy. He had inherited more than Remy's red on black eyes.

"Julien!" his mother cried out in warning. Her voice was not kind, she had long accepted her fate and wasn't happy with the disruption to the usual fighting. There was no point in it, really. Jerry wouldn't be stopped and Julien could ill afford to be hurt. It just wasn't worth it to resist.

Julien ignored her warning, having hardly heard it. Kathy was a series of contradictions to him – she could love him so tenderly, wash away his dirt and toss aspirin down his throat when he was sick. Then she could yell and scream at him with such hate. And then, she could ignore him like he didn't even exist. Right now, all he was interested in was getting Jerry away from her.

Jerry growled in anger and snatched at Julien. He was more than happy to vent his rage on the boy, he despised the little rat. Julien wasn't even human, one look at his eyes made that plain. Why Kathy even kept the brat around was a mystery to him.

Luck was briefly on Julien's side. He was especially nimble and quick this day, thanks to an adrenaline rush, and he twisted and eluded the big man, enough to give Jerry a nice good punch in the face. It sent a thrill of exhilaration right through him. This was more like it!

Sadly, any triumph Julien might have felt at his accomplishment was short lived. In his rage, Jerry only barely felt Julien's blow. He grabbed at the boy with brutal speed, snatching one of his tiny white hands, screaming, "You think you're so good, boy? Let's see you try hitting me when I'm done with you!" He then began to haul the kid towards the front door.

Now trapped, Julien screamed in terror, hoping his mother would help him as she had the last time. He had no desire to see where Jerry was taking him. Kathy sadly, was too far gone in her despair and hopelessness to help him, she lay limply on the floor, crying.

Julien resisted Jerry as best he could, planting his feet and forcing the big man to drag him away. Jerry, done with this, brought him up close, giving him a vicious backhand across the face just as he had his mother.

Julien didn't feel the blow so much as it was that he fell into the deepest, darkest black. He only realized he'd been struck when he woke moments later only to discover he'd been dragged outside.

Jerry had hauled him out of the trailer by his hair and was taking him out to the stump where he'd been repairing a window. Jerry reached for his mallet and Julien screamed again, having an idea what might be coming next. He was still dazed from the backhand slap, but squirmed and fought as best he could. Unfortunately, it wasn't going to be enough. In his frail, underfed condition, he was easily manhandled and placed in the position Jerry wanted to do his cruel deed. Before anything could possibly stop it, Jerry came down with the mallet on Julien's left hand, shattering the tiny fragile bones.

Julien had experienced pain, sure he had. But never like this. He was instantly blinded by his own tears, shaking from head to toe as shock spread through him like a fever. He heard a scream from somewhere far away, numb as there was a separation in his mind. Something had snapped inside and he was someone else, someone new. Red, there was red everywhere, in his eyes and in his mind, in his skin, and coming from his own body.

Jerry, oblivious to the change in his stepson, was laughing now, happy with what he'd done. He was tired from his exertion and the mallet was heavy in his hand. He left it as it was, there against what was left of Julien's left hand, pausing for just a moment before he made his next move. He had every intention of smashing the boy's other hand as well, it was there in his eyes.

He would never get the chance.

Julien had one thought of his stepfather – _I wish you were dead _– and the whole scene changed. There was a strange _sllssss _sound in Julien's ears like something sizzling and then there was a massive red, blurred explosion. The mallet that was still against Julien's hand had spontaneously combusted, seemingly of its own accord, shattering into bits in a cloud of heat and flame.

The two combatants recoiled in shock and surprise. The explosion that had shattered the weapon sent shards of wood and metal at Julien, cutting his face, but the effect was much, much worse for Jerry. Jerry's howls of pain now matched that of the tiny boy, only Jerry's held the high pitch wail of the mortally wounded. Somehow the hand that had held the hammer had spontaneously exploded and was left in ruins. What he didn't know, of course, was that like Julien's father, the boy's kinetic release couldn't actually ignite a person's flesh. The energy his body had unleashed had found that hammer and Jerry's weapon of choice had exploded just as easily as the rope around Gus' wrist.

What was different was the level of Julien's anger and terror. The energy release had been stronger than Remy's more controlled burst, strong enough to detonate the mallet like a grenade. The hand that held it was now gone. The mallet itself had blown apart with enough force that some of the shards had imbedded themselves into the now melted vinyl of the trailer, leaving a scorch mark like the work of some mad artist. Julien had done this, he had done this with his hate and his anger. He had come full circle round, his mutation fully blooming with a bang. Powerful, deadly kinetic energy had come from his fear, from his pain, and targeted the source of all that anguish and woe.

Jerry's right hand and most of his wrist no longer existed. There had been heat, but no cauterization, blood was flowing from the jagged stump of his arm in a gush of arterial spray. Jerry's face was becoming white with far more than just shock. He fell backwards like a dumb animal, landing on his ass, and continued to scream.

Julien didn't take the time to reason out what had just happened, this impossible thing. He acted on pure instinct, finding his feet and scrambling away just as the front door to the trailer slammed open. His mother was shouting, but Julien didn't hear any of it. He just ran away as fast as he could, holding his tiny battered hand close to his chest.

Julien had fled, seeking safety. He had nowhere to go but knew he had to flee, that he could no longer stay here. He didn't fully acknowledge the fact that he had just murdered a man, he thrust it away from his mind, compartmentalizing it. It was a trick he had learned early living in an abusive household, and it had served him well.

He would need that ability again, he could see now as he sat in his seat on the Dragon 2. Life had been tricky and quite unfair to him over the years. It was always throwing things at him, never allowing him to be settled. Take this moment now -- here a white winged person, looking more like an animal than a man, had come into the ship and was staring at him like he was a freak. They were all doing this, these people, looking at him like there was something special about him. Did they see it? Did they see that he had killed? That he was a murderer?

The answer to that question came soon enough and it wasn't what he had expected at all. Minutes later, the world once more had its untrustworthy way with him as fantasy and reality merged as one and here he was, the man from his mother's photograph looking down at him with a shock as real and profound as his own. It was _**him**_, the one his mother had once loved, the one who had betrayed him most of all. The one who had never come to save him.


	3. Chapter 3

Author's notes: Thanks to everyone who reviewed! It's always nice to hear from you guys. And fanficlover, I usually update each week once I start a "book" and then I'll have coupla months or so in between each book. I post fairly regularly, lol. This book will have five chapters.

Art for this is up at my site as usual if anyone wants to look at it. :)

–...–..–..–..–..–..-..–..–..-..-..--

(Three)

Remy looked into the eyes of his son and couldn't breathe. It had to be his son, there simply was no other explanation that would suffice. They were not quite mirror images of each other -- the boy's nose had been broken at one point and had healed badly, just like his left hand. Still, they were close enough of a match that a DNA test would be nothing more than a formality.

Well, that was true except for Julien's age, which was something of a mystery. The oldest Julien could be and still be pass as his son was fourteen tops, but Logan was right, this kid, though half starved, was at least sixteen if not more. There was a solid Adam's apple in his throat and just a hint of a future need to shave around his chin. But the eyes, the restraining collar around his neck, the scorch mark that had been at Kathy's trailer... there was no doubt. Nothing could change that.

_My son, _Remy was thinking. He shuddered and closed his eyes. _I was always careful! Always!_

_**/ There's a reason why they claim it's only 99.9 percent effective, my dear. Maybe you got just a little too drunk,**__** too sloppy with your protection, **_Shi'ow-ri answered, his personal inner spirit, the voice of his empathic talent. Her voice was teasing, but serious enough with respect for the situation._** / It could have been worse. You could have gotten more than a good time to bring back with you.**__** /**_

Remy shuddered again. He'd been a horrible slut, he knew it, but that was now so long ago it seemed like another life. He'd been meticulous and careful in his exploits, always wearing protection and getting checked all the same. It seemed so wrong somehow that this got by him. Kathy certainly had never tried to contact him, but how could she really? Gambit was a ghost, never in the same place twice.

**/ Time to forget the past****, **Shi'ow-ri whispered again. _**/ You've got to face this now. His mother is gone and now you are all he has left. /**_

The thought was too hard to fully comprehend and for a moment it was lost under another deep surge of anger. All his life he'd wanted kids, it was a side effect of growing up in a huge Southern family, even if it had been an adopted one. Now he had just found out that he'd had one all along, he just hadn't been told about it. It made him deeply angry, Kathy keeping this from him.

_**/ **__**Like you said, she probably didn't know where to find you, **_Shi'ow-ri soothed, hoping reason would calm him. **_/ You hid yourself from her as much as you had all the other women you'd been with. __/_**

_She could still have tried, _he continued to argue uselessly, wasting time by running through all the possible scenarios in his mind, each one more pathetic and stupid as the last. It was true that he would have done right by the boy, if only he had known. The appalling conditions of the New Jersey trailer came back to smack him like a physical blow. No child should ever have had to live like that. Kathy's fears were justified – if he had but known he would have taken this child and his sisters and run just as she expected he would. Run as far away as he possibly could. No child should ever have to grow up so unloved. As an orphan himself he could easily relate.

Still he could not deny the truth – yes, he had moved on to become an X-man, but there had never been any front page publicity pictures with him in them. That had been reserved for the precious Inner Circle, no ex-Thieves allowed. Not many people outside the mutant community even knew he existed.

"Did you know Julie One Hand was your son?"

Remy blinked, not really hearing the question Logan was asking him. He was still lost in his thoughts, trying to work out this mess in his mind. It wasn't getting any easier to breathe and it was just a little too warm in here.

Logan repeated the question a little louder, demanding that he answer. All Remy could so was shake his head.

"Look at me."

Remy did, his eyes squinting with sudden impatience, irritated that he was being spoken to like a child.

"Did you know?" Logan repeated for a third time, his voice as hard as Remy's eyes. "You best not be lyin' now, boy."

"Look at my face!" Remy snapped bitterly. "What you t'ink, eh?"

Wolverine crossed his arms and sighed with his own impatience. The less than glib reply was answer enough. The thief hadn't had a clue.

Remy turned back to the boy who was still glaring at him. All of the boy's fear had melted into some kind of raw anger. Careful now, Remy peeled the duct tape from the boy's mouth, trying to be gentle about doing something that always hurt no matter how carefully you did it. He was more than a little angry himself, why had this child been so mistreated by Logan? Surely he was as much of a victim here as the other kids had been.

Remy could see that at least one Siskan had been in agreement on the mistreatment – the swirlings in the boy's shine and the mild glassiness of his eyes indicated some Kundatesh had gone his way just a few moments before. Remy concentrated, seeing by the flavor of it that it had been Aiden. Nice to see someone was on his side.

"What's yo' real name, fils?" Remy couldn't help but ask though the answer was about as obvious as anything could ever be.

The kid didn't answer but there were strange colors running through his shine - confusion, a sense of betrayal, but mostly a rage so huge the boy couldn't keep from shaking.

Remy reached into one of the deep pockets of his long coat and took out the battered photocopy of the picture Logan had recovered from his last trip, the one of himself and Kathy Tanner. "Dis yo' mother, non?"

The boy looked at the picture and all it did was muddy his shine with more colors – recognition, homesickness, betrayal, tragic loss. They didn't last long as a sudden burst of black washed them away – that same rage again, tinted now with shame. Whatever good Aiden had done the lad was gone as he was overcome with emotion. Julien hawked and spat, fouling the only copy of this Remy had. "Fuck you!" he snarled through tightly clenched teeth.

Remy stepped back in surprise, not getting the response he had expected. There was so much more to this, more than he could take in all at once. The boy was still looking at him, all accusation, letting Remy know he was going about this all wrong.

Remy nodded then to himself. All right -- this was a child, an abused child like every other Siskan the thief had come across. For the moment, it would be easier to simply treat him that way.

"Je suis desole, fils," Remy apologized, trying a different tack in an effort to break the discomfort between them. "We got off on de wrong foot 'ere, eh? I'm Remy LeBeau, one of de X-men. We come 'ere wit SHIELD to shut Jason Frost down. You free from him now, nobody ever goan 'urt you like dat again. Now, what's yo' name?"

The boy turned away with a noise of disdain, as much disgusted by the man in front of him as he was with all of this. It was obvious that in spite of having been rescued, he wanted to be anywhere but where he was. There wasn't the least bit of gratitude there, only rage.

Remy's impatience was growing. They were not communicating well at all. Something was wrong. His voice was gentle, yet firm with authority when he ordered, "Look at me, s'il vous plait."

The boy continued to ignore him. He was exhausted, still shaking.

Remy squatted down, hoping that the lower position might seem less threatening to the boy. He took Julien's chin, forcing the lad to look at him. "I can see you upset, but you gotta do some listenin' now. Everyt'ing different now fo' you. Yo' momma, she pass from de Flush. Yo' stepdad an' yo' sisters, too. You on yo' own now. You know who I am?"

The boy refused to answer, his teeth still tightly clenched in anger. The rage was enough of a reply, it was growing worse with each passing moment, fouling the air between them.

Remy answered for him. "I know you be Julien Tanner and by de look of yo' eyes, it would seem like I'm yo' daddy, though I didn't know it 'till jus' now. Coupla days ago Logan 'ere go to Twilight, find dis picture of yours. Dat picture bring me to yo' house in Jersey. Everyone who live dere is dead now 'cept you. I come 'ere fo' you on account of yo' mother bein' a friend of mine. I 'ad no idea you was mine. You understand me now, fils? You belong to me now and I'm gonna watch out fo' you, don't you fret. You don' need to be afraid no more."

"Fuck you!" the boy snarled again, finally unable to contain his fury. He was spitting as he cried, "You're not my dad! Jason Frost is my dad! You're just a lying sinner who fucked a pestilent whore for money! Stay away from me!"

Remy's eyes grew wide and he rose back to his feet, hearing the last thing he expected. He knew the genetic heritage this boy was claiming was a lie, Jason Frost had nothing physically to do with this boy. This kid was all him and Kathy, right down to the eyes. He could get it that this kid might deny him because he was a stranger, but why would he speak of his own mother this way? What had Frost done to him?

"That's enough for now," Wolverine suggested, using a hand to move Remy further away. "We gotta get going. There'll be a debrief when we get back. You'll just have to wait."

Remy nodded and staggered off, feeling the weight of the day crash down on him. " 'M gonna get some air," he said and headed for the ramp. His legs were shaking.

"Don't you run," Logan barked, some of that harshness returning to his voice. The last thing they needed was for Gambit to take off and make this worse.

"I ain't goin' nowhere. We leavin' in five," Remy answered without looking back. He went out the hatch and disappeared.

"I'll go wit' 'im," Aiden said as assurance, following the stricken thief outside.

Remy hadn't gone far, he had walked over to the rear of the ship where there were less people and was leaning with his back against the hull, his eyes closed as he tried to compose himself. He was shaking, just a wee bit overloaded from all of this. It was almost more than he could handle for his first real mission after being on leave. He hadn't been prepared for this at all. He covered his eyes with his hands, trying to get under control. He couldn't let anyone, Logan especially, see how much Julien's hatred of him had hurt. He knew they were watching him, grading him on how he had performed today. He didn't want to get bounced back onto the disabled list just from being slammed like this so unexpectedly.

Aiden said nothing but walked to Remy's side, reaching into a pocket for his smokes. He lit two without having to be asked and handed one over, nudging Remy gently.

Remy lowered his hands and looked at him, grateful that he was no longer alone. He had no fear of being tattled on for this show of weakness, Aiden would keep his secrets. Remy accepted the smoke without protest and took a long, deep, grateful drag. He would pay for this later, he knew it, the cravings that would follow. He had quit officially but every now and again, under moments of high stress like this, he wasn't about to refuse a smoke when it was offered to him so freely. He slid just a little sideways and leaned against the Siskan's shoulder, thanking Aiden without speaking. Aiden just laughed softly, giving back his own wordless comfort.

Feeling better now, Remy took out his cell phone and opened it, texting back to Molly. He wanted more than that, he would have given anything to have her in his arms right now, but this would have to do. He sent her a quick and simple message, letting her know that the mission was over and that he was all right.

He was surprised when she texted him right back, he thought she might be busy. It wasn't much, just a quick note about how she had taken the twins to the Solarium and was looking forward to his return. Was there anything special he wanted for supper? Kimble and Aiden were invited of course, they always were.

Remy's eyes misted over as a sudden streak of confused emotion washed over him. This was all so trivial, this other life, when he had another child sitting in the ship behind him, one who so clearly hated him with every fiber of his being. Guilt, his longtime companion swamped him. Did he even deserve his family when he had left this other child to rot and be perverted by Frost? How could he possibly tell Molly about Julien? He wasn't the least bit sure how to handle any of this.

"It isz not szo bad," Aiden said to him, turning his head to whisper in the taller man's ear to keep this private. "Patience. Molly, she luv you. 'E will too, when 'e get to know you better, eh?"

Remy looked into Aiden's eyes, wanting so much for that to be true. He was grateful to have the Dreamer's confidence when he felt none of that himself. It took the edge off and he nodded just so Aiden wouldn't say more. "Best to wait fo' when we get 'ome. I couldn't possibly explain all dis to 'er now. I wouldn't even know where to begin."

"Zen wait. You need 'elp, you know Keemble and I will be zere fo' you."

"Merci, merci...."

"We'd beszt be gettin' back. Logan and Julien, zey don't get along szo well."

"Sooner home, sooner done and over wit," Remy agreed, his heart still heavy. He sent Molly a quick reply, telling her to hold off on cooking. He gave a possible debriefing as an excuse, though he knew that he would be dealing with Julien's disposition all day instead. There was no way his boy was going to sit and rot in a cell, not if he had anything to say about it. That done, he crushed out his cigarette and they headed back inside the ship, ready for home.

..–..–..–..-..–..–..–..--

Wolverine waited with some impatience for Remy to return, he wanted to be back home, sooner rather than later. He had so much to do – there were reports to file, kids to find rooms for, a new found red eyed son to dump into a holding cell. Grumbling a bit, Logan glared at Kimble, finding a target. "Put yer jacket on. We're still on mission here."

Kimble blanched, or did as much an alabaster Siskan could. He lowered his eyes with assumed guilt. He hadn't put his jacket back on even though Aiden had returned it. He had laid it on the floor next to his pilot seat in a rumpled pile, not even wanting to touch it. He knew he no longer deserved it. He couldn't hope to explain all that to Logan, so he gave his best excuse instead and said, "It got blowed up."

Logan squinted at him. He had seen the jacket returned but wasn't aware of its condition. Kimble's pants were torn and dirty, his chest marked with dirt and smudged. It seemed a good enough excuse. "You'll see to it that gets replaced soon as we get back home."

Kimble nodded and sat in his seat, trying to look busy so Logan wouldn't pester him anymore. The humiliation that had vanished because of Julien's unexpected appearance had returned to the Siskan and he couldn't help but pout a little.

Logan saw it and grunted, turning away in frustration to the open hatch, mentally willing the thief to return so they could just get out of here already. He hated Kimble's persistent immaturity with a passion. The guy should just grow up and get over himself already. It disgusted him, a grown man acting like a child.

Julien watched all this from where he sat, seeing enough to assume that Wolverine was pretty much an asshole to everyone. His own mistreatment might not have been as personal as it first seemed. Logan was just like Jerry, never happy unless things went his way.

If Logan noticed he was being scrutinized, he didn't show it. Fact was, now that the kid was pretty much contained, he was pretty much off his radar for the moment. Wolverine was lost in thought, thinking about home, and so startled a bit when Nightcrawler suddenly teleported into existence right in front of him on the ship's ramp. Logan took a step back, his hands coming up defensively without thinking. "Cripes, elf! Ya oughta be warnin' folks before ya scare the bejeezus out of them like that!" he complained merrily, not really upset.

"So sorry, mon fruend," Kurt apologized, not feeling the least bit guilty, grinning himself. "Just vanted to let you know that Kristalay vas never picked up. He is novere to be found."

"What?" Logan questioned sharply, angry. He'd had someone placed in the alley just for that purpose. There was no way Sabretooth could have just slipped out, especially not when under the toxic influence of the Honey. He motioned to Max to keep watch on the ship and said to Kurt, "Take me to the alley."

"Ya," Kurt agreed and then they were gone in a cloud of smoke.

They arrived at the alley and Wolverine staggered just a little bit. A jaunt with Kurt was always a bit rough on his stomach though he recovered quickly enough. The teleport left a small hint of brimstone in the air but it wasn't enough to hide what most others would have overlooked. Kurt had been wrong — Creed had been here after all. His scent was strong here and bloody.

"Who was here keepin' watch?" Logan questioned, his teeth clenched.

"Ze new guy, Klaus."

Klaus was a trainee from the Complex. He wasn't a member of the Gold Team, but had come along just for the ride and just for this reason only -- to stand here and collect anyone who came this way on a Honey trip. He was a telekinetic and therefore, in theory, capable of handling anyone who had came through in a violent manner. "Where is Klaus now?"

Kurt was silent, not immediately answering. He wasn't evading, he was communicating telepathically with Jean, their connection still strong from today's outing. "He is not here. Something's wrong."

Logan nodded. "Somethin's wrong all right. Real wrong."

He wasn't going to explain, he didn't have the words exactly. Yes, Creed had come through from Twilight to here, here was his smell, tainted with Honey all right. But if Klaus had been here waiting, he hadn't been here alone. There was another scent here, one that Logan couldn't immediately place, but one that had all of his alarm bells ringing loud and clear. "Have Jeannie do a mental sweep, see if she can pick up Klaus or Creed anywhere near here. Maybe someone took them."

Kurt nodded and blanked out again. It might look odd to an observer, that distant, starry eyed, glazed over look in the face of someone communicating like this, but Logan no longer thought much about it. He was too worried now, pawing through some of the garbage here, looking for clues. There was a good amount of blood here, his half brother had not been casually wounded when he'd left Kyle behind.

He also saw Creed's cloaking bracelet there, confirming what he already knew, but it was smashed and broken. It wasn't enough to tell him what had gone on here and Logan continued to look for more clues. He paused as he sifted, lifting out a silver medallion on a long chain. He couldn't help but snarl out loud.

"Vat is it?"

"I know this..." Wolverine replied, squinting as a headache suddenly exploded in his head, red and ugly. This happened sometimes when he was trying to wade through the shattered wreck of his own mind, trying to go through the jumbled mess of a memory torn apart and then badly reassembled again, trying to determine what was real and what was false. His mind had been tampered with so many times, things taken away and things brought back, it was hard to keep sane sometimes. The medallion was a flat circle with a wolflike face on it, three slash marks artistically cutting across its neck. It was a symbol that he immediately recognized, but not from where. It was like recalling something you had eaten when you were a child. You know you've tasted it before, but you can't recall the exact circumstances of when and where or who had made it. Still, he knew it well enough to be afraid of it. Very afraid of it. Just as he knew the medallion hadn't been left here by accident. He had been meant to find it.

"Creed is in trouble," he said out loud, his voice distant.

Kurt nodded, coming back to life at Logan's words. "Jean say she cannot find him or Klaus, They are gone."

"Of course they are," Logan spat out like a curse. He pocketed the medallion. "This wasn't Fury's doing, he didn't even know Creed was out with us today. This is outside. I'll have to tell Chuck when we get back."

"You vant to go back to your ship?"

"Yeah, I'm sick of all this already," Logan complained. What a day it had been, too many surprises and things he did not like. What more could possibly go wrong? Heh, better not to ask. "Take me back, elf."

..–..–..–..–..–..–..–..–..–..–..--

When Logan was returned back to the Dragon 2 he was happy to see that Remy and Aiden had returned and were getting the small craft started up and ready.

Rogue had rejoined them as well while he had stepped out. He had no need to explain Julien's presence, Aiden had already filled her in. Logan was surprised to see her alone and asked, "Where's Simone?" He didn't want the Siskan to be left behind.

"He's stayin' to say goodbye to Leroy," she explained. "He said he'll be back home by the time we get there."

Logan nodded and took his seat, ready for home. He didn't really approve of leaving Simone in Twilight like that, but since the guy had been going there and back on his own already, it wasn't like they could stop him even if they wanted to.

Julien was still in his seat but he couldn't keep his eyes off of Kiden as she lay unattended on the floor. She had been swaddled in clean towels, dressed, and covered with a blanket, but she looked so alone, so alone. He wanted to hold her close but did not dare to ask. He had been treated badly enough to know better than to try.

Aiden saw him looking and he leaned in to Remy's ear. "Ze boy, 'e look to ze girl."

"So what?" Logan grumbled. He was tired and agitated, not in the mood to grant anyone any favors. He heard what Aiden had said even though the Siskan had kept his voice lowered.

Aiden looked back at him with a slight scowl of annoyance. "Mebbe 'e ride quiet wit 'er beszide him, neh?"

"I still got plenty of duct tape left," Logan replied to that with a grin of evil intent. "The squirt'll be quiet enough with that."

Remy's red on black eyes flashed on Wolverine then without an ounce of humor. The thief had turned around in his seat, dropping what he was doing to say, "You pull dat shit again, you ain't goan like what happen, patron."

They stared at each other, each daring the other to go one step farther. Both of them were tired and ready to leave, finished with all of this. Both of them were still agitated enough that one wrong move from either side would have them brawling. The tension between them now was thick, very noticeable to everyone else in the cabin. Remy was feeling particularly assertive after standing up to Cyclops and didn't back down now as he said, "Dis my ship. Dere ain't no 'urt in letting de fille share a seat. Bit cold on de flo' nohow." It wasn't a concession or a compromise, it was him showing who was in charge at that moment.

Logan chewed on that, grumbling internally. They could bicker over this or they could just do it and leave. "Fine, whatever. Let's just get the hell outta here."

Aiden didn't wait for the order. He moved to lift Kiden from the floor and gently lay her next to Julien, being careful to place her head in the boy's lap. Julien's hands remained tied, but his arms were loose enough that he could keep her there with his elbows. He nodded his gratitude to Aiden who smiled back in return as he secured her with one of the seatbelts as best he could.

Remy didn't stay to watch, he went back to prepping the ship. The only thing he wanted right now was home and Molly, nothing more. He was twitchy and aggravated, only thinly in control of his temper. Logan was grating his already sensitive nerves raw.

Logan could smell it and kept quiet but he was still pissed off, his mood not improving with this last act of indulgence. This was so typical of the thief – whether it was children or Siskans, there was no difference. Remy caved to them all, unable to resist them. He needed to grow up as much as they did, Logan thought with some bitterness, if he was really going to lead a team like this.

Julien didn't notice the dynamics of this crew or care. He had his precious Kiden right where he needed her to be. He didn't even notice as the ship lifted up and they departed. He was looking into her perfect face. She, the one who had saved him.

It had been years ago but he would never forget her, the night they had first met.

When Julien had fled the trailer and Jerry's dying screams he had run as far as his poor tired legs could take him. He had moved from the suburbs to the city, thinking there would be more shelter for him there. He was numb from the pain in his hand, aching from head to toe from the assault and from the fever that still racked his body from the Flush. He was sick and when his poor little legs finally gave out, he collapsed in an alley way, just outside of a Chinese restaurant, torture for his poor tiny belly.

He didn't know how long he lay there dozing in and out, but it was full dark when voices woke him. Two people had come into the alley and were rooting around in the trash nearby where he lay. He was too out of it to move but he could tell by their voices that there were two of them, a boy and a girl. He felt someone nudge him and the girl said, "Hey, there's a boy here. I think he's hurt."

"This one's a goner, Kiden," the other replied with indifference. "He's dead or will be in half a minute. Time to move on."

Julien heard them talking about him, but he was too exhausted to open his eyes. He felt dreamy, floaty and not even there anymore. He hardly felt it when warm fingers touched his face. The girl spoke softly again, "He's still alive, Lucas."

"So?" came the second voice again. It was definitely male and less than patient.

"Bring him."

"Come on, Ky," Lucas complained. "We gotta book outta here. Dark's comin' on and the gangs will be coming out. Kam Lee might give us something now if we ask him but he won't wait. You haven't eaten since yesterday."

There was a moment's pause as the girl considered what her companion had said. "Take him home," she ordered again. There was another pause, then she said, "Lucas, please. Just listen to me, okay?"

Julien heard a sigh of exasperation and then Lucas' voice, closer now. "You da boss, me da hoss." And then Julien felt his body get lifted up. It hurt so much being moved that he barely got out a moan of complaint before he blacked out.

The next thing Julien remembered was the smell of food. It was enough for him to rouse to a greater sense of awareness in spite of being so weak. "Momma?" he called out weakly. Was he back home again? It was all so dark and fuzzy, just like when Kathy had taken him away from Jerry the first time.

There was a shuffle and his head was turned. "Yo, you awake in there?" It was the boy's voice again.

Julien's eyes dared to flutter open and he knew without a doubt that wherever this was, it wasn't home. Through a foggy blur, he made out the rough face of a scraggly youth, of a boy not much older than himself. The boy's eyes were brown and his hair a long tangle of dark brown curls. His skin was a light brown, not quite black but somewhere in between a mulatto and Hispanic. He was dirty, dressed in a filthy t-shirt and ripped up jeans with holes in both knees. His shoes were well worn sneakers and his nails were filthy. He wasn't far from needing his first shave, a boy trapped in between youth and manhood. Even as Julien took in these details, he couldn't help but think there was something wrong with this kid, like he wasn't quite finished in some way. The guy was speaking to him again, his words rough and impatient. "You with us, kid?"

"Lucas, be kind," chided a girl's voice and there was another face, this one of a teenaged girl. She was just as dirty as Lucas, but far prettier. She managed enough femininity to make her more comforting than the young male next to her. She brushed some hair from Julien's eyes. "You okay?"

"Thirsty," Julien managed to croak, his throat dry and raw. He was momentarily mesmerized, she was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen, reminding him of his own mother before time and heroin had had their way with her.

Kiden reached behind her and grabbed a bottle of water, lifting it carefully to Julien's lips. Julien sipped it at first, but then reached out in his greed, demanding more.

"Not too fast," Kiden admonished, holding him back.

Julien wasn't listening. He tried to take the bottle but then cried out in agony as he involuntarily flexed his hands. The pain in his damaged left hand was huge and he shivered violently before greying out. He was there but lost in the dim. Tears leaked from his eyes and he could hardly breathe.

Kiden shook her head and looked across at Lucas. This one had sat still during the whole exchange, an unreadable look on his face. "Lucas," she whispered, then repeated his name more sharply when he did not respond.

"What?" he snapped back at her irritably. His arms were crossed, impatient.

"He needs medicine."

"I don't know from pills."

"But you can still get some."

Lucas frowned. "What kind?"

"Aspirin at least. Maybe some antibiotics. He looks terrible."

"You a doctor all of a sudden?" Lucas snapped, moving away. He didn't want Julien here, he was an intruder and in the way.

Kiden was confused at first by Lucas' strange attitude, but then recognized it as jealousy. They had only been the two of them for a while now and Lucas had liked that just fine. "Lucas, please. Just do what I ask, okay?"

Lucas nodded and then threw his head back with a shiver, his body turning to a ghostly mist before disappearing. Julien saw it through the fog of his pain and tears, crying out softly. Who were these people?

"Don't be afraid," Kiden comforted, touching him again. "I'll keep you safe."

Julien basked in the glow of her beauty, her innocent kindness dissipating his pain as if she was his own personal angel of mercy. He wanted nothing more than to be with her, to be in the light of her grace forever. He closed his eyes and was out again, a soft smile curling the lips of his mouth.


	4. Chapter 4

Author's notes: As some of you may know, the official trailer for the Wolverine movie has finally been released. I can't go on enough about it, the Gambit shots were amazing and this time the trailer is in high-def, not blurry and dark like the bootlegged ComicCon trailer I mentioned a while back. I encourage anyone interested in looking at the trailer and the amazing collection of still shots I have compiled at my small message board, the House of Squeek. It can be reached at at the link on my profile page. As always you do not have to be a member to view anything I have posted there, though it is free to join. I think this go around, us Gambit fans will not be disappointed!

..–..–..–.–..–..–..–..–..–..--

(Four)

"I won't let them hurt you. I'll keep you safe."

Logan squinted, leaning over just a bit in his seat. They had been in the air only just a few minutes, heading for home. The tension in the cabin had faded, disappearing as they left all that ugliness of Twilight and Dockside behind them. Remy had calmed down now and relaxed as they traveled, growing a bit drowsy even as he let Kimble do the flying for them. In the quiet, not quite lost behind the ragged snoring of Kyle as he slept beneath them on the floor, Logan had heard Julien's soft whisper.

The boy was bent over the lovely young girl whose head remained in his lap. He was brushing her oh so gently with his elbows, his concern for her very real. What Logan didn't fully understand was why Julien was acting like they were the bad guys. What did he think they might do to him?

If Logan had asked him, Julien could safely say that he had many reasons to distrust people. It seemed like no matter where he went there was always someone who appeared to have bad intentions towards him. Rescues weren't always the blessings they seemed to be. At least he could safely say that Kiden had never hurt him, not this precious wonder who lay so still and lifeless now.

"It'll be okay..." he whispered again as if she could actually hear him. He didn't care if they could be overheard. All he was thinking of in that moment was how she had saved his life all those years ago.

After Lucas had left them to find what medicine he could, Julien had slipped in and out of evil dreams, always to wake to find her there next to him. Eventually Lucas returned and Julien woke to his face being gently patted. It was Kiden again. "Take this," she said and water and hard lumpy pills were pushed into his mouth. He drank them down and slept again.

He woke some time later, but it was like a dream. He was lying on the floor, covered in filthy blankets. He was conscious enough now to see that the ceiling above him belonged to a broken down warehouse, shattered windows all in a row let in pale moonlight from above. Beside him there was movement, and he saw two figures moving in the dim, shimmery light of a single candle.

Kiden lay on her own makeshift bed and moaned softly as Lucas kissed her. They were only a few feet away from him, the boy on top of her, their bodies obscured by ragged blankets, but not enough to disguise the careful motion of their passionate loveplay. Julien was young but knew enough of his mother's profession to recognize what he was seeing. Still, he couldn't look away, something about their heated interaction mesmerized him. Kiden's love for her scraggly companion was something powerful that Julien could sense, something that flushed his own face and made him feel warm.

Julien had seen his own mother doing this thing, but unlike Kathy who had been servicing a man she had despised, Kiden seemed to be enjoying this with all she was made of. She was vocal and happy, laughing softly with pure happiness and joy, her arms wrapped around her lover, keeping him there, not pushing him away.

Kiden's eyes were closed and she was enjoying herself too much to see that Julien had awakened, but at one point in the action Lucas turned his head and his big brown eyes met Julien's fevered ones. The look was less than kind and Julien could see in his face that the youth was annoyed at being watched. Lucas was jealous.

"Wh-what?" Kiden mumbled blearily, but Lucas turned back to her and kissed her, his hands on her face and keeping her focus on him. He grew more aggressive with his body and then gasped loudly as they shuddered together, both of them coming to a stop. Kiden wrapped her arms tightly around her lover, bringing her legs up around him as they lay together, breathing deeply now. Lucas recovered first and kissed her neck, soft and gentle.

Julien lay as he was, watching them as if trying to divine their secrets. He was so unused to actual love that he wasn't sure what he was looking at. His trying to understand it all made him more awake and with that alertness came the return of his pain. He whimpered softly and tried to rise, but he was much too weak.

Kiden heard that and turned to look at Julien in surprise and no small amount of embarrassment. She knew he had to have seen her and Lucas together. "Hey."

"Wh-where am I?"

Kiden moved and Lucas grumbled softly in complaint, rolling off of her to allow her to rise. Kiden pulled down her oversized shirt, dressing as it were, and got up. She came to Julien's bed and put her hand on his forehead. "How do you feel?"

"Hurts."

"I'm sure it does. Do you remember what happened to your hand?"

"My stepfather hurt me."

Kiden's eyes opened wide, but then closed with gentle understanding. "You need a doctor."

"I can't," he gasped. "My eyes." That wasn't the real reason, though it sufficed. He could still vaguely remember something exploding and Jerry screaming, but it was all so dreamy and far away. Enough of it remained that he knew he couldn't risk being reported to the police. He hadn't run that far.

"I'm sorry. I sent Lucas for some pills, but I don't know if they will be enough."

"It's okay..." Julien breathed, happier now that she was so close. "Do you have anything to eat?"

"Yeah," she replied and reached for a backpack nearby. As she leaned over she sneezed and wiped at her nose. "Uggh... I must be coming down with something."

"They were sick at my house, I must have given it to you," Julien explained weakly.

"Maybe," she agreed, not the least bit angry about it. Of course, if she had known it was the Flush, she might have been more concerned. Not for her herself, perhaps, but for anyone she might infect.

He gratefully took a half full, white box of tepid Chinese food when she handed it to him. It wasn't normally his favorite, but he was much too hungry to refuse.

"You guys live here?" Julien asked, looking around. His new companions were obviously homeless though this seemed cozy enough.

"Yeah, I know it's not the Ritz, but no one bothers us here." Kiden smiled at him and tucked him in a bit better. She gave him some more water and more of those pills. "Take these and get some more rest. If you feel better tomorrow, I'll show around the place."

"Thanks," Julien said and lay back down. He was still so very tired. The food and medicine began to have some effect and he felt his eyes get heavy. He looked back at his rescuer, seeing that she had returned to her bed and to Lucas' arms. Lucas held her tightly, stroking her hair back as she fell asleep, but his eyes were all on Julien. Lucas was staking his claim, letting the newcomer know that Kiden was his and his alone.

Julien closed his eyes, not wanting to endure that resentful gaze any longer. Sleep took him quickly and he had no dreams.

It was morning when he next woke. Sunlight was streaming in from the broken windows and the air was fresh and sweet. He sat up in his bed, feeling a lot less cloudy though his hand was still throbbing. It was red and ugly, swollen and misshapen. He didn't even want to look at it.

"You're up," Kiden greeted happily from behind him.

He turned to look at her. "Thanks for taking care of me."

She gave him a quick hug. "We runaways have to stick together."

He liked the sound of that. It meant he was welcome here with her and no longer alone. It comforted him more than any medicine ever could.

She helped him up and supported him, wanting him to walk around a little bit. He was still fevered, his legs were trembly and weak. He needed to pee but was too embarrassed to ask her where he should go. As if sensing his thoughts, she showed him their makeshift latrine – it was in a far corner far away from where their beds were. She helped him as best she could, helping him to lean against the wall as he relieved himself.

That over with, she walked him around some more, bringing him to the windows and showing him the view from outside. They were pretty isolated here, it didn't look anyone would trouble them here. They hadn't gone far before Julien needed to lie down again. When they got back to the beds they saw that Lucas was just coming back from outside, wisping into view. He'd been out foraging and had brought them some more food. This time it was canned pasta from a store.

"How do you do that?" Julien questioned, unable to stop himself from asking.

Lucas squinted at him in annoyance. It would be a look Julien would get from him often. "The same way your eyes are red and black. Don't you know what a mutant is?" Lucas snapped, unable to keep the condescension out of his voice. He clearly thought Julien was stupid.

Julien shook his head in answer, and stung by Lucas' sharp remark, spoke to Kiden who had a gentler face. "My stepdad called me that, but I didn't know what it meant."

She was happy to explain. "It means people like us who are different, who can do things regular people can't."

"Are you a mutant, too?"

She just smiled at him in a sad sort of way. "Yes."

He looked at her, not quite understanding. He could tell she wasn't being completely honest, but she wasn't going to elaborate. She went for the food instead, automatically doling it out. She gave some to Julien and herself, but not to Lucas. It wasn't a snub, the boy wasn't interested in eating -- he had left them to look out the window, keeping watch. She turned away to sneeze again and Julien could see her cheeks were flushed. She was feverish just like he was, though she seemed to be coping with it well enough.

"Thanks for the food," Julien said, just for something to say.

"You're welcome. Tomorrow if we're both feeling better, I'll show you where we get it. Just so you can earn your keep," she teased gently, her eyes merry.

He smiled, happy now. She was including him, inviting him to stay. He was thrilled. Of course when he glanced Lucas' way, the boy was glaring at him, not the least bit pleased. There was no trust there. Julien turned away but he was determined to stay, even if it was just long enough for Kiden to teach him how to survive.

–..–..–..–..–..–..–..--

It took a couple of days for the both of them to rest and get over their colds. They were lucky to be mutants and even though they were both suffering from the Flush, they managed to shrug it off in time. Kiden was as good as her word and once they both felt better, she began to show Julien around.

Kiden and Lucas had set up house in this abandoned warehouse because it was isolated and holding together enough to offer them decent shelter. It sure beat the hell out of living in a cardboard box or in an alleyway.

It was hard for Julien to move around much at first, but Kiden found some rags to make him a makeshift sling to protect his poor battered hand. It was still ugly and swollen but the antibiotics seemed to be doing their work, or maybe it was just luck, but it didn't get infected. One thing was obvious – because the badly broken bones had never been set, the hand would be useless for him forever, no matter how well it healed.

Julien tried not to think about that. Instead, he focused on what Kiden was trying to teach him about surviving here and now. There were safe zones – the warehouse they were living in, Kam Lee's where the cooks sometimes gave them scraps to eat for free, and a fountain in a nearby park that they could use to wash in at night if they were careful.

To wander out of those zones was dangerous. There were cops looking to take them in if they got caught, but also there were small gangs of mutant kids running around the area and they each had territories. At the moment Kiden and Lucas and now Julien were off of their radar, but Kiden worried about being forced to join one of those gangs. She knew what the cost would be for her as a female, and it was far more dear that what she wanted to pay. Lucas was her love and the only one she was willing to share her body with. She was careful as she explained this, unsure of just how much Julien knew of the world. She could see he was a bit naive and new to this rough and scramble life. He was as green as they came.

Kiden was older than Julien by a couple of years or so and had been living on her own out here for a while. She was able to survive as well as she had because of Lucas. With his ability to ghost as he did, he could easily steal whatever he wanted for them – blankets, food, candles and all that. It was a significant advantage over many of the other homeless people here in the city. Kiden was thin but not starving, she would not feel the cold. Lucas was pretty strong but was still limited in what he could carry. He didn't steal a lot at once, he was trying to help them remain as inconspicious as possible and they had succeeded nicely for a while now.

Kiden explained that she had run away from home after her parents had been killed in a car accident. She had been raised in a loving family, one that hadn't minded that she was different in her ways, but once her parents were gone, she had no one else to turn to. Foster care wasn't an option for her so she hit the road, running away and taking her chances on the streets.

Julien listened to all she had to say with rapt attention, happy to have her by his side. Her eyes were kind, passing no judgement. She was caring for him, looking out for him. His love for her was growing by the minute but he was careful with it – Lucas was always there, never far away, and at night Kiden was always in his arms.

As the days passed, Julien watched Lucas and learned plenty. Lucas never lost that look of not quite being all there in a physical sense. Julien wondered if it had something to do with how he was always ghosting, fading in and out and bringing Kiden things she needed. Lucas did not eat at all and Julien wasn't even sure the boy even slept, even though he kept Kiden warm at night. Lucas didn't talk much and Lucas never ever got around to liking Julien at all.

It didn't help matters much that Julien had a hard time hiding his attraction to Kiden. She was pretty in a simple way and had a generous smile that never passed judgement his way. She was always ready to listen and reminded him a lot of how his mother had been before life had stolen what little joy she'd had to give.

Julien was new at this, he'd been exposed to so few people, and not to any other kids his age. Julien's body was changing and not just from his mutation - now that he was getting a taste of what girls were like, especially one so happy to near him, it was hard for him not to respond. He found himself watching her, following her sometimes when she didn't know it.

When the fountain wasn't available for washing, there was a water pipe in one of the nearby buildings. It wasn't as safe to use, it was too much in the open for frequent use, but it was better than nothing. Because it was so open, they were to go one at a time for their own privacy.

He knew he wasn't supposed to go when Kiden went, but Julien found himself following her, staying just far enough behind that she wouldn't notice him. There was a wall nearby with a hole just large enough for him to peek at her, but not so big that he could be readily seen.

Julien couldn't take his eyes off of her as she washed. He was embarrassed yes, but not enough to pull himself away. Thinking himself alone and his head filled with bright hot thoughts of her, he unfastened his pants and slid his good hand down inside, shuddering with relief at the first touch of his fingers. All of his pain vanished in that moment, washed away by heat and bliss.

Julien had inherited many things from his true father and one of them was an early awareness of his body. A lot of alone time had seen to that. Bored beyond his means at times, this was not his first time doing this, but it was the first time he had done so with a real flesh and blood naked girl in mind and in his line of sight. She was so unbelievably beautiful...

Julien had no sooner lost himself inside that blissful dream when he was roughly smashed into and tossed to the ground. Lucas had seen him in action and was beyond pissed off about it. "You little punk! She's mine!" the ghostly young man snarled, vanishing and reappearing repeatedly in a circle around Julien as he tried to right himself, confusing his prey and maintaining the upper hand.

"Stop!" Julien cried, frightened beyond belief. He defensively covered his face with his good hand, too terrified to move. "Go away!"

Lucas shoved Julien down onto his back and pounced on him, his knees to Julien sides. He crouched like that over him with nothing but the purest malice in his eyes. He may have seemed ghost like at times, but at the moment he felt real and solid there as any flesh and blood boy would have been. He grabbed a fistful of Julien's tattered shirt and leaned down on him, his teeth tightly clenched as he hissed, "When Kiden says you're strong enough to hang on your own, you're outta here, ya little punk! You got me?"

All Julien could do was squeak in fear.

Lucas snarled once more in conclusion and shoved Julien down again before stepping away. Kiden arrived at that moment, just in time to know she had missed an ugly confrontation. She had dressed after hearing their noise, but she was still wet from washing. "Julien! Lucas! What are you two doing here?"

"Teachin'!" Lucas replied and then vanished in an angry cloud of vapor.

Kiden rushed to where Julien lay and gave him a hand up. "Are you all right?"

"I don't think Lucas likes me," Julien complained on the way to his feet. He was shaking badly and could hardly stand. The rough handling had awakened the pain that always slumbered there in his hand and it had come alive with its dire warnings. It was on its way to healing, but still he had pain when it got bumped around or hit anything. He hoped she didn't notice that his pants were loose and not all the way fastened.

If she did, she said nothing about it. Instead she just smiled at him. "Don't worry about him. He's just a little moody...and maybe a little jealous. He's not used to sharing me with anybody."

"How long have you guys been friends?" Julien asked, anything to keep the conversation away from himself.

Kiden shrugged. "For as long as I can remember. We grew up together, he's like my brother."

Julien squinted in confusion and Kiden was forced to smile. "It's complicated. You asked me if I was a mutant? Well I am. Julien's my ghost."

"Your ghost?"

"Yeah. He's always been there. When I was little, he was little. When I grew up, he grew up with me. At first no one could see him, but when we got older, he grew stronger. When my parents started to see him they were afraid, but after a while, when they saw he wouldn't hurt anyone, they just kind of got used to him."

"But not the family you had when they were gone?"

"No. Not them," she replied, her voice growing sad. "They were afraid of him and told me to make him go away. They didn't understand that I need him, he's like a part of me. I chose to run rather than give him up."

Julien's spirits sank at the sound of that, though he tried to hide it. He was a perceptive lad and knew what it meant. If he wanted Kiden he would have to fight Lucas for her, a battle he highly doubted he could win. At the moment she was his lifeline, she was caring for him better than his own family had. In the short time he had been here he had eaten well from the scraps Lucas brought them and was even gaining some weight. He couldn't afford to push things and lose her.

He was not an accomplished liar by any means and she saw his sadness. She brushed his face gently and said to him, "It's okay, you know. I know why you were here..... just, just understand that I will look after you and all that, but there will never be anything more between you and me."

"But I love you!" he blurted out, hoping to stop her from saying anything more. He didn't want to be rejected by her and left on his own again.

"I love you too, but not that way."

Julien blushed instantly and turned away, unable to look at her beautiful face.

She wouldn't let him hide and turned his chin so they were eye to eye. "You're young and you have your whole life ahead of you," she said, being the most serious he had ever seen her. "You can lose your clothes, lose your home, but the one thing that hurts the most to lose is your heart. The secret one that we all have inside of us and cannot afford to give away lightly. We all have things we want that we can't have. You can't let it consume you. You can't let it ruin what's good inside of you, okay?"

Julien wasn't sure he understood but he was willing to agree just to keep her here with him. He nodded at her and was instantly relieved when she held out her hand to him and said, "Still friends?"

He grinned and shook her hand, the touch of her sending a thrill right through him. "Friends."

"Good," she replied. "Because today is Friday and you know what that means."

"Dumpster diving," he answered. It sounded gross, but she had already showed him that at times it could even be fun. They never knew what they might find. At this point he would dumpster dive with her anytime, anything to keep her close, no matter what she may have said. He wasn't ready to give up on having her, not just yet.

..–..–...–..–..–..–..–..–..–..–..-..–..--

"Two minutes to port," Kimble announced, waking Julien from his thoughts. Julien was new to flying but had an idea what that meant.

It was confirmed when Remy drowsily replied, "Home sweet home. Message ahead to dem we comin' in wit casualties. Lucky ain't so as fast as us but she won't be long. Dose kids'll need some help settlin' in."

"Aye." Kimble went right to work, clicking buttons and sending the message home as requested.

Logan unbuckled his seatbelt and stood, stretching and cracking his neck. He was stiff but no longer sore from the day's injuries. He was a quick healer and as a career soldier, was ready for anything even now. He turned around, ignoring Julien, but toed the other young man that was still sprawled out asleep under the seats. "Hey, Kyle. Time to get up."

Julien nervously shifted in his seat as Kyle growled coarsely in protest. Logan toed him again and Kyle got moving, coming out slowly and stiffly on his hands and knees. The change in him was profound. Just in the course of the short nap he'd taken he'd digested most of what he'd eaten and had made good use of it. He had filled out some and no longer looked so starved and emaciated. Like Logan, all of his injuries were gone and the hollowness around his eyes had vanished.

Logan watched him as he stretched, internally having to admit that it was important that Kyle be better fed than he had been. They would have to try harder at finding him something he would be willing to chow down on without having to sacrifice a human life to get it done.

"Mind yo' feet," Remy cautioned to the group that wasn't still buckled in. "We be landin' just about now."

The warning wasn't really necessary. There was some slight movement of the floor beneath them as the ship gently banked to the right when they came in for that landing but it wasn't bad. Kimble was skilled -- Logan, who had remained standing, didn't even need a safety strap to keep his balance. They settled down and the hatch opened, beckoning freedom.

Rogue just smiled and skipped out in a rush, eager to see if Simone had made it home safely. Logan let her go without a word.

Now that they were safely back on the ground, Logan was once more in charge. He snapped his fingers at Max, "Grab Kiden there and take her down to the Med Bay, have her checked out. Kyle, yer with me."

Kyle didn't argue, he fell into step at Logan's heel like a good dog, ready to go back to his cell to finish his nap. Cody would be waiting there for him and he'd had enough adventure for one day. He was aware of Kristalay's absence, though, he kept looking over his shoulder as if expecting the larger man to suddenly appear. It seemed odd to have him gone. "Mrr!! Where 'Tooth?" he asked, his memory of things still a bit fuzzy.

"We'll pick him up later," Logan lied dismissively, just wanting Kyle compliant. "Time for you to get back to yer room."

Kyle nodded and asked no more questions. He simply did as he was told.

Remy stood stiffly from his pilot stick, tired now. He looked at Logan, the unasked question – What about Julien?

Wolverine grunted at him on his way to the door. "Take yer boy along to the Med Bay, too. Have his leg looked at. Just know this – there will be a debrief. He ain't gitten out of it."

"Bien sur," Remy replied without argument, knowing that as much as he could protect his son there were questions that had to be asked and answers given.

Max raised Kiden up in his arms and headed for the door. Remy, right behind him, helped Julien to his feet. As tired as he had been Julien was worse. The boy was stiff and sore, stooped over like an old man. Remy had taken Julien's arm to keep him from falling and he didn't like the feel of it in his hand, like it was all bone with no flesh. He would see to it that the boy was given something to eat as soon as possible.

The first thing Julien noticed as he left the small confines of the Dragon 2 was that there was no way this place could ever be confused with Twilight. For one, it was garishly bright. He had lived in Twilight for months now and had long since gotten used to the constant gloom. Here the bright sun forced him to squint and bow his head. It was still late morning and not as hot as it would be later in this desert region, but it was way too warm for the clothes he now wore. The heat blasted him almost as much as the sunlight.

They made their way down the ramp, Kimble and Aiden holding up the rear. The moment they hit the pavement there was a low rumble as the Lucky Dragon landed nearby, its landing just as smooth and perfect as Kimble's had been. Julien hesitated with some fear at the sight of it, this large silver ship so close. He'd been brought into the Dragon 2 so quickly he never had a chance to really look around the area where they had first come through the door. Here the magnificent and sleek looking Lucky Dragon was uncloaked and he was getting quite an eyeful. Just who were these strange people with all of these strange flying ships? It was weirding him out.

Remy put a reassuring hand on his shoulder and joked, "Don' be scared, fils. Before too long, you won't even t'ink twice what you see around here."

Julien wasn't sure if that should be comforting or not. If this was the outside of where these people lived, how bizarre was it going to be inside? They had landed on a long sprawling tarmac and Julien, while a bit blinded by all the sunlight, could just glimpse a huge multi-storied office building with many glass windows twinkling in the distance. Oddly though, the group didn't go in that direction, instead they headed for what looked like a small nearby guard shack that had an outside stairwell going down below the ground.

Remy had them moving quickly, he wanted to get Julien out of sight before Fallen could unload her cargo of rescued children. They went down deep, at least three sets of stairs by Julien's reckoning, making him wonder just how large this strange Complex really was. They parted ways on the third landing – Logan turned Kyle towards the holding cells while the rest headed towards the Medical Bay. Julien was quick to note that all the doors in the stairwells had scanners for badges, there was no free access here.

The hallways here were long and deep, suggesting a huge maze like interior. There were many doors here, and Julien was quickly lost. If he had tried to run, he never would have found his way back out. These doors held many surprises – when they passed one of the Solarium doors, Aiden said something to Remy and the Siskans went their own way, ready for some time in the sun. Julien caught a quick peek of the big room through the open door, awed by the trees and grass. It looked amazing and he couldn't help but wonder how they could fit a park into such a large room, never mind how they kept it alive underground. But then, if they had flying ships and this huge sprawling underground home, why not this as well?

The Med Labs weren't far away and once inside, Remy steered Julien towards one of the examination rooms closest to the door. He wanted the ability to get out of there fast if needs be with the other kids coming in. He gently pushed Julien towards an examination table and pulled the curtain around it, trying to keep them out of sight. Henry would be along soon, but so would the other kids as well. Julien was still cloaked with a bracelet but Remy wasn't taking any chances.

Julien was nervous here in the Lab but settled down when he saw Max laying Kiden gently down on the next exam table beside them. Remy could see Max was impatient and said, "You can go, I'll watch dem bot'. 'Enry will be 'ere in a minute."

Max paused, not sure if he could trust Remy not to run off with the boy. At the same time he had no desire to wait around here so he nodded and left, leaving them alone.

Remy watched him go, having to bite down on a surge of resentment. He didn't like not being trusted. Max was too much like Logan, they had the same prejudices against the Siskans and himself as well. Remy let it go for now and tried to relax, he had more to worry about than what Logan's little side kick thought about him.

Warm now, Remy removed his coat and set it on the doctor's stool that was against the wall. Logan had told him about the leather strap the boy had worn on his leg and Remy took it now from one of those large pockets. He set the Purifier down next to where Julien sat on the exam table. He touched it thoughtfully, upset that it was still damp with the blood of his child. Like Logan, he knew it wasn't the first time it had been soiled this way. "What is dis, fils?"

Julien's eyes flicked to his face briefly, his shine sparkly with anger, but he looked away without answering.

"And yo' collar? Dere a reason why you wear dat, too?" Remy continued to ask, though he had an idea about the answer to that. He had seen the destruction outside of Kathy's trailer after all.

Julien didn't answer, but Remy wasn't all that surprised. There was no trust in his shine. Not one bit. "If you want us to understand where you been and who you are, you gotta give us sumptin', fils."

Julien wasn't budging. Remy decided a good will gesture might be in order. He walked behind his son in slow careful movements and began untying his hands. With the boy being in such rough shape, Remy figured there was nowhere he could run off to anyhow. As he worked the ropes, the thief asked, "How about yo' girl, den? Why she got de collar?"

"She's dangerous," Julien answered immediately, his first direct answer to a question. His hands were free now and he rubbed his poor aching wrists, Logan had not been any gentler with the rope than he had been with the duct tape.

Remy squinted at the quick, eager response. He had an idea that Julien was being truthful, but he was still hiding something. He was at least encouraged that they were finally talking now. "Is dat so? You wanna tell me about it?"


	5. Chapter 5

Author's notes: That last chap was kinda short so I figured I may as well just throw up the last one and finish this. Hope you guys enjoy it. As always art for this book is up at my site if anyone wants to look at it.

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(Five)

Julien sat as he was, still rubbing his wrists and meeting the steady gaze of his father. He wasn't going to answer the man's last question but it wasn't because he couldn't remember. He could recall all too well the first time he'd ever seen Kiden use her power defensively. Lucas had been the least of his concerns after that.

In fact, on that memorable day, Lucas hadn't been with them at all. Kiden had sent him off on an errand and so Julien was elated, he would have Kiden all to himself. That was always a real treat, but that wasn't what made the memory so unforgettable. Julien and Kiden had gone to a nearby strip mall that had dumpsters in the back. They began to rummage around in them with all the glee of children at Christmas, you never knew what you could find. Kiden claimed she had found good clothing and even unopened whole containers of food in there. At the very least it was something to do just to pass the time.

Kiden had Julien keep watch while she jumped up on the edge of one open container and went inside. A certain amount of dexterity was required for this, something Julien no longer had with his damaged hand. He wasn't complaining, she would toss him bags to rummage through just to spread the fun around.

They'd been at it for about ten minutes or so when Julien spotted a small group of boys heading towards them.

"Kiden," he said. "We've got company."

Kiden looked up from what she was doing. She reacted quickly and climbed back out of the garbage container, taking a defensive position in front of Julien as the newcomers approached. "What do you want?" she asked, putting on her bravest face.

"This is our dumpster," the leader challenged. The group consisted of about four boys, all just as dirty and ragged as Julien and Kiden were themselves. One of them seemed a little extra furry around the edges and another had strange yellow eyes. These kids were mutants as well, one of the gangs Kiden was always trying to avoid.

Julien tried not to stare at them. The only other mutant Julien had met was Kiden - Lucas didn't count, he was her ghost and so was a part of her. Kiden wasn't a beta, she could pass for normal in a crowd, but not these guys. Now he was getting an eyeful of others that were supposedly his kind. They didn't seem too friendly.

"Fine then. We'll go," Kiden said to them easily enough, not wanting an argument. She'd survived this long without having to fight, she was hoping to keep that trend going.

The leader just smiled and stepped into her path. "Oh, you'll go all right. But not until you've paid the toll."

"What toll is that?" she asked warily, looking around. Lucas was nowhere in sight. He was her usual source of protection, but for now, they were on their own.

"You have to suck my dick," the leader answered, grabbing his crotch suggestively.

"I don't think so, pal!" she argued, backing right up. She had a hand out behind her in warning, keeping Julien back and away, defending him. With his hand a hopeless wreck, he was more than useless to them. It was all on her now. She addressed the threatening young man in front of her, "I'm warning you now, back off or you'll be sorry!"

"Ooh, I am so afraid!" he mocked, pretending fear. The others just laughed, rubbing their hands and spoiling for a fight.

Kiden looked back at Julien just once, and said, "When Aslan comes, you run, okay?"

He had no idea what she was talking about, though he had to admit the name was somewhat familiar, like he'd heard it in a story somewhere. He didn't have to wait long for it. Just as Lucas always had a habit of appearing suddenly from thin air, so came yet another ghost, only this one wasn't close to human.

The gang of young boys stepped back in shock and surprise when where there was once empty space a huge, life sized, fully maned and very male lion inexplicably misted into existence. It was pissed off and not even close to fooling around. It challenged them with a toothy roar, filling the air with noise, and charged at them, claws out and ready.

The boys scattered at once like a flock of startled birds and fled in terror, some of them losing their footing as they scrambled for the safety of the nearby chain link fencing of the next lot. Aslan landed on one unfortunate who had been a bit too slow and began mauling him, the claw marks and screams of pain all too real. The lion Aslan from the famous children's stories by C. S. Lewis may have been a nice and agreeable fellow, but this one wasn't even close to living up to his namesake.

"Aslan, no!" Kiden shouted in dismay, trying to distract this monster she had conjured up from her own mind.

The lion looked back at her in irritation and hissed disobediently, showing long, now bloodied fangs. The child below him no longer moved.

Kiden backed away in fear. "We have to run, Julien! The trouble with Aslan is that I don't control him so well!"

Julien didn't argue. When she took off he was right behind her and not holding back. Aslan didn't follow his creator, he returned instead to his prey and began shaking the lad like he was nothing more than meat filled rags. Julien couldn't bear to look at what came next, he just kept running.

They made it back to their warehouse lair in short order and Kiden curled up into her bed in the corner, sobbing. Julien tried to comfort her as best he could, but when Lucas finally arrived moments later, he was all she wanted. She ran into his waiting arms. "I had to call Aslan! I couldn't stop him and I think he killed someone!"

"It's okay," Lucas soothed as he rocked her there. His voice was warm and loving as he spoke to her with real understanding. "It wasn't your fault. You did what you had to do to stay safe. It's always that way with Aslan. No one will blame you for it, least of all me."

Julien watched them, defeated by their obvious love and undying affection. He had been frightened by what he had just seen Kiden do, but now all he was was jealous of how Lucas was comforting her when he had been unable. Julien hadn't fully realized until that moment just how deep his obsession was until he was put face to face with the reality that it just wasn't going to happen. Problem was, he had been dreaming about her for so long now, he couldn't imagine himself being anywhere without her. Kiden should be in his arms, he was the one who had been there when it happened after all. But no, here was Lucas and he was in the way.

Sitting in the Med Lab and looking back on all this now, Julien knew that the best thing that had ever happened to him was meeting Frost with his seemingly endless supply of restraining collars. Kiden was dangerous in her own way, yes, but it was Lucas that he really thought needed to stay gone. Julien would do his best to see to it that that happened. He couldn't imagine life without Kiden under his control.

Julien looked now into the waiting eyes of his would be dad and simply said, "She can make monsters."

Remy blinked at him and smiled slightly, seeing the blatant exaggeration in the boy's shine. Julien was lying, misstating the truth for his own ends. This boy had wiles. It seemed he took after his dad in more ways than just his eyes.

"What kind of monsters, fils?"

Julien didn't get a chance to answer. There was a slam of a door and an instant flood of noise. The others had arrived.

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Julien jerked in his seat at the sound of their coming, he couldn't help it. He had heard the crowd calling for his blood earlier and now the only thing separating them from him was a simple cloth privacy curtain.

Remy raised a finger, silently ordering Julien to be still as he poked his head outside the curtain. " 'Enry, sil vous plait."

Beast had just walked in and was busy organizing the kids but he heard something in Remy's voice that gave him pause. He came over quickly. "Yes?"

"You got a minute? Got sumptin' to show you."

"All right."

Remy backed up and allowed the doctor to enter, being careful to close the curtain behind them. Henry blinked in confusion, all he could see was the girl lying so still on the table further away. It wasn't until Remy moved to the front table and clicked off Julien's cloaking device that the problem became more clear.

Henry looked into the red and black eyes of the young man before him and figured out rather quickly the nature of Remy's concern. He saw the boy's mangled left hand and knew what it meant. This was Little Julie One Hand, the one the other kids had been clamoring for. No wonder Remy had kept him hidden. "This is the boy you went to Twilight for?" he asked, not using Julien's name out loud in fear of being overheard.

"I knew a Tanner would dere, oui, just not a LeBeau, comprenez?"

"Understood," Henry agreed, being a quick study. "Logan knows about this?"

"Oui. Not happy, but 'e knows. Dis is Julien."

"Hello, Julien," Henry greeted holding out his hand. "My name is Dr. McCoy and I am a friend of your father."

Julien bristled at the word "father" he just couldn't help it. Remy was a stranger to him, someone he couldn't quite trust. Still, he nodded at the doctor in greeting, keeping his silence.

Henry could see the boy was afraid in his new surroundings and wasn't all that happy to be there so he simply moved on to his next question. "And the girl?"

Remy answered, "She a friend of Julien's. Dere's sumptin' wrong wit 'er, she won't wake up."

Beast looked at Julien. "And how long has she been like this?"

Julien swallowed heavily, not sure if he should answer. He wasn't sure what was scarier, the truth or this strange, big blue doctor. He hadn't seen many people as mutated as Beast and he was a bit scared. He took some comfort in the fact that Remy was at ease here, this man might not be dangerous. Finally he mumbled softly, "A few months."

It had actually been two years or so, but Julien wasn't going to give that away. He knew they would be upset as it was and they were.

"A few months?" Remy repeated sharply. Again he saw the exaggeration in his son's shine. These half truths were getting out of hand. He couldn't trust anything Julien was telling him. There were traps being laid all over the place. "An' you guys done nuthin' about it?"

"Frost didn't have much in the way of doctors," Julien replied just as tersely. This too was an inaccuracy. Frost had been plenty capable of finding doctors to attend to those things he had cared about – like making sure each and every kid that passed through his hands had been properly sterilized. But when it came to the beatings and illnesses that came part and parcel to having kids in captivity, that was something else.

"I'll have a look at her," Henry offered just to break the tension and moved to the girl. He had other patients waiting that had come along in the Lucky Dragon, but they were all the walking wounded. None of them seemed as out of sorts as this poor young girl.

Henry felt her pulse and checked her quickly for injuries. He could see she was half starved and limp, lifeless, but had no other obvious wounds. Whatever original injury that might have caused this, she may have already healed from it after so much time. Her eyes were partway open and he flashed his light into them, smiling just a bit when her pupils reacted to the light. She had flinched just a little from the sudden brightness and moved away, she was not fully catatonic. He wondered if her semi conscious state was medically induced or self inflicted. From what he had heard of the camps, she would have had every reason to want to "check out" in any way she could have just to survive.

Of course, it could also be the restraining collar. Henry had seen situations more than once where a collar such as this was to blame for causing a mutant to hide inside their own mind. Certain mutations kept the host human alive and to have them blunted or taken away was akin to smothering them. Some mutants whose powers had them in constant contact with the rhythms of the planet or its weather did poorly when that powerful link was cut off. This might be true of her as well.

"May I ask why she was restrained by this collar?" he dared to ask.

"Kid 'ere say she make monsters," Remy replied when Julien kept quiet.

Henry met his eyes, hearing the uncertainty in Remy's voice. Beast was smart enough to know that the thief was perceptive on many levels that he himself was not. If Remy had his doubts about what Julien had said, then he should as well.

Henry flashed the light in Kiden's eyes again. "Kiden, can you hear me?"

She blinked once, but that was all.

He leaned in closer and whispered into her ear. "Kiden, my name is Henry McCoy, a member of the X-men. You've been rescued. Frost is in jail and you are now free. I need to know, is this collar around your neck a problem for you? Is it safe to remove?"

Her eyes shifted towards his voice and he realized now that even though her eyes were not fully open, she was really looking at him now. A soft, choked wheeze came from her throat, so quiet he only heard it because he had his head so close to hers. He wasn't sure what it meant, other than it was a plea for help. But was it for or against the collar being removed?

"Don't do it!" Julien warned him then, unable to keep the panic from his voice. "She'll kill us all!"

Again Henry looked to the thief for confirmation and saw by the ironic smile on Gambit's face that he knew the boy was lying. This had gone on long enough that the thief had gotten his own confirmation. Things were not what they seemed.

"Mebbe you just exaggeratin' a bit dere, fils," Remy offered, trying to help Julien out. To see if he might recant what was now a blatant lie. "It ain't really dat bad, now, is it?"

Julien glared at him, his mouth a hard white line. What could he possibly say? This man would never understand what Kiden meant to him. "Just don't do it. You'll be sorry."

Henry wasn't buying any of it. He returned to Kiden's ear. "Do you wish me to remove it? Yes or no? No one here will harm you."

She breathed two words, a little stronger now, but still so soft he barely heard them. "Yes, please...."

Beast stood up and gestured to the thief. "Remy, if you please."

"Bien sur," Gambit replied and returned to his coat, finding his tools. A lifetime member of the Thieves Guild, he was never without a set of lock picks. He moved to the exam table where she lay and took a good hard look at her shine. It had been a dull, flat grey before, something he had seen in deeply depressed and even suicidal people in the past. But now it was sparkling now with colors he liked to see -- hope and longing, of an expectation of something. There were no telltale streaks of red or black, warning signs of impending violence, fear, or rage. He was not afraid to do this no matter what Julien suggested might happen.

Even though Remy wasn't sure she could even hear him he gently brushed some hair from her eyes and said softly, "Don' worry, eh? Gambit don' bite."

He unrolled his small bundle of tools and went to work. In spite of all the classes he'd taught, he was still the best lock picker in the place, and the one most trusted to do this. No matter who it was or where, if one of these collars had to be taken off, he was the one they always called. No one was trusted more to do this without setting off any of the booby traps that might have been installed. He could see that although the collar itself wasn't of the best quality as far as restraint went, the lock was fine enough. This would take a steady hand.

Julien sat on the adjacent table, his head down. He was nervous himself, sorry he hadn't been convincing enough to stop this from happening. Of course the unspoken thought was: what would happen when the collar came off? Would Lucas return? If he did, what would Lucas' reaction be to seeing him again after all this time? It was sure to be awful.

Remy paused in his task, sensing the drop in Julien's spirits. The excuse he had given for this not to be done had been a lie, but how he felt about it wasn't. Julien was afraid, but the flavor of it wasn't a fear of destruction, of this girl freaking out and harming someone. Instead, it was a deep sense of impending loss. If he did this thing, Julien was afraid he would lose his girl. Why was that?

"Everything all right?" Henry asked, seeing the thief hesitate. If Gambit chose to abort, he wouldn't fight this. A collar could be taken off at any time. It was better to be safe than sorry.

Remy nodded and continued, making his choice. He knew so little about Julien that he had opted to free the girl from her prison, for better or for worse. No one deserved to be so lifeless, to be in such pain. He was optimistic enough to hope that whatever conflict separated these two, it could be overcome, given enough time.

There was a soft click and the collar around Kiden's neck unlocked and fell away. Remy stepped back in shocked surprise as another person suddenly appeared out of nowhere, almost shoving him out of the way. This young kid, dark skinned and dressed in street rags, misted into solidity right before his eyes. Lucas wrapped himself around Kiden, lifting her up and off the table and taking her away into a corner. He was crying her name in a hysterical rush and putting himself in between them and her, a purely defensive motion.

Remy charged the unlocked collar and the picks in his hands without thinking, every nerve in his body screaming, _**Intruder!**_ It was only Kiden's positive reaction that kept him from acting any further.

Kiden wasn't resisting her rough visitor. She allowed herself to be manhandled and protected, was even laughing with happiness, her vibrations all exaltation and joy. She was fully awake now and ecstatic. "Lucas!" she cried and buried herself in his arms. They both fell silent, simply losing themselves in a tearful embrace.

Remy watched all this in bewilderment, it took no thought at all for him to reach out with his Kundatesh empathy and read this newcomer. No shine, no vibrations. He looked a little unfinished around the edges, too. Whatever this kid was, real and alive wasn't one of them. Gambit realized then that it was no coincidence that Lucas had arrived the moment the collar had been disabled. He was an extension of her power.

Henry had also stepped back in surprise, and like Remy, the only thing staying his hand as well was the fact that Lucas was eagerly greeted by Kiden. There was no doubt these were two long lost friends, even more than that when Lucas pulled Kiden's head back and planted the deepest loving kiss on her lips.

Henry's attention was caught by Remy's nod. The thief mouthed the words, _Not alive._

Beast cocked his head at that, his curiosity peaked now. He had seen many different and fascinating mutations over the years as student after student came through his office. While this was the first he had seen like this, it didn't take much for him to diagnose it. "Telekinetic projection," he answered softly, not wanting to disturb the two. This meant more than that, anyone with the teke that strong was an omega and would be highly prized. No wonder Frost had wanted her. What was a little perplexing though was the obvious intimacy between this girl and her ghost. There would be a few tales to be heard about that one.

"Well okay, den," Gambit laughed in wry amusement. Live long enough and you'll see it all, wasn't that what Logan was always grumbling? He turned towards where Julien had been sitting, "Okay. You next, fils."

Remy's voice trailed off when he realized that the boy was gone. Sometime during Lucas and Kiden's less than silent reunion, Julien had slipped away. Alarmed now, Remy looked behind the curtain and towards the hallway door that was only just now coming closed. Julien was gone, but he would be easy enough for this clever empath to track. He had left behind a trail of jealous misery as clear as any scent powerful enough for Logan to follow. Something had upset Julien greatly and it didn't take a brilliant thief much to know what it had been.

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Henry followed right on Remy's heels as the boy took flight. Henry hadn't been debriefed on Julien's disposition but he was experienced to know the boy couldn't be allowed to run free. Just the fact that Remy had left the lad cloaked until the doctor had been called for was reason enough to guess the boy was wanted, never mind the fact that the Gold Team had been told to take Little Julie One Hand into custody.

Henry passed through the lab door just in time to see that Gambit was chasing the boy down the hallway moving as fast as he could. The thief was fleet of foot as most of the X-men were, but Henry was faster in spite of his larger size. He had once been a top football player in high school and that talent had never left him. He passed Remy by in just a few strides and caught up with Julien quickly. He grabbed the back of his hooded sweat shirt, snatching at the boy with enough strength to yank the lad right off his feet.

It would prove to be a mistake.

Julien squeaked in surprise as he left the ground, but was ready when Henry turned him around. The doctor had no sooner said, "Easy, boy! No one will hurt you here --" when his mouth was flooded with the sickly sweet taste of Honey.

Beast released the boy with a startled gasp. He'd had no time to ponder how this strange substance had suddenly appeared there, the change in him was too fast and too quick for anything more than a cry of pure panic.

Remy was there by his side but it was much too late. From a very young age, Remy had been a big fan of horror movies. Nothing was more entertaining than an adrenaline laced rush of blood and gore, of monsters reaping havoc and mayhem. He had seen 28 Days Later with equal enthusiasm, always ready for a well made zombie picture. In that film, armed with a large popcorn and a caffeine laden soda, he had watched in fascinated glee as a man went rabid in less than five seconds after a single drop of contaminated blood fell into his eye. Watching what happened to Henry next was sort of like that. It was that fast, the transformation. The only thing missing was the glee and the fascination.

Remy watched in pure horror as the man he had once known as Henry McCoy was there one moment and gone the next. Henry's legs buckled and he fell awkwardly onto his back without an ounce of grace. Before he even hit the floor, his clothes split apart as his muscles exploded in size like a big blue Hulk, only this one was covered in hair so long it could no longer be called fur. His face changed rapidly, being less troll like and more like Kiden's Aslan. His fangs, while usually large for a human, grew even longer in size, matching the lion's snout that burst from his skull to house them.

" 'Enry!" Remy shouted in alarm, skidding to his knees at Henry's side. Julien was forgotten, the thief's concern was only for his long time friend and ally.

It was a one sided affection at the moment, however. Remy was forced to duck as the monster suddenly swung at him with one huge arm, the claws there now impossibly long and deadly. He cursed in ragged French as he leaned backwards with spine cracking elegance over his feet to avoid it, his head almost touching the floor between his boots. Even so he felt the sharp edges of those talons scrape the tip of his nose, drawing blood. His mutation had given him greater flexibility than most humans and plenty of stretching exercises had kept him fit, but that had been too close for comfort.

He rolled and scrambled to his feet, feeling a surge of pain rip through his right leg as he did it, an old injury coming back to complain. A year or so ago Henry had been forced to use pins and brackets to repair a savage break there. It had mostly healed but after this long day, his poor body had had enough. He was barely off and running when he heard more than felt a small glass vial crush and break under his boots. Julien had obviously kept the small vial of Honey hidden somewhere on his body for just such an emergency and since Remy had so thoughtfully untied his hands like an idiot, the boy had used it to free himself.

Remy had no time to think on that too long just now, however. He was in serious trouble. Fearing for his life, Remy bolted down the hallway, not even caring about what direction he was heading. Julien was nowhere in sight, gone through one of the many doors that lay ahead no doubt. It was just as well. A big blue monster was behind Remy now, all claws and hot breath, hungry for prey, and at the moment the thief was the only offering on that particular plate. Remy hardly had time to grab the pull switch alarm on the wall as he passed it when he was struck hard from behind, knocking him off his feet. Remy screamed as he was tumbled and mauled on the way down, the only thing keeping him alive was the body armor he'd so thoughtfully integrated into his uniform just for fun occasions like this.

Some of those claws found purchase and Remy howled again, this time in real pain. Up close, the beast's vibrations were powerful and choking him with their madness, rendering him useless except for his noises of agony and fear. It did nothing to make this savage monster recognize friend from prey, it only fueled its desire to rip and tear. That huge lion's mouth was open, pouring out hot breath and a relentless desire for blood, even as Remy felt its teeth graze his throat. Remy was sure he was a gonner now, this had happened way too fast for any sort of rescue.

Lucky for him he was wrong. The monster on top of him grunted in surprise and was suddenly gone, taking all that heat and rage away. The force of it rolled Remy onto his side like a rag doll and he lay there tangled in his own limbs, still in shock and unable to do more than simply lay there and feebly gasp for air. The position gave him a decent view, though, of what was going on just a few feet away.

Jean, Cyclop's telekinetic wife, was there on the scene, using her powerful talent to deny the monster that had once been a man any leverage by lifting him off of his feet. He dangled ridiculously in the air, bellowing out his fury in big deep lungfuls, deafening in his rage and frustration. She had him well contained and was soon joined by Scott. He checked his wife, saw she was fine, and was there at Remy's side, touching his shoulder. "You okay? What happened?"

"Julien..." Remy wheezed, his mind all blurry and fuzzy. His side was one big stinging agony where he'd been clawed through the chinks in his body armor. "De boy splash 'Oney in 'Enry's face. Make 'im change. Don' know where 'e run off to...."

"Stay here. I'll send for someone to find him," Scott ordered and left, going right to work.

Remy lay as he was. The order to remain was a joke, he could hardly move and it hurt to breathe. He wondered now if maybe he'd broken some ribs on top of everything else that had gone wrong today. Still, even now as he lay there, doing all he could to simply breathe, the only thing on his mind was his son. Where had he gone and why, oh why had he done this terrible thing?

To be continued in Tangled Up in Blue.

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Author's notes again: Howdy, folks. Hope you liked this and I apologize for yet another cliffhanger ending, it just seemed the most sensible place to put in the break between books. It will be a while before I begin posting the next book, Tangled Up in Blue is only half written right now with no art at all. I get less time off at the beginning of the year as compared to the end so I will have less time to push this through. Hope you'll bear with me, I will get it posted as soon as I can. ~ Squeekness


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